Did Lexington Sen. oppose trans care? Campaign flier against her implies otherwise

In state Senate District 23, a campaign mailer told potential voters that Sen. Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington, was the only Republican “NOT” supporting legislation protecting children.

The flier, sent before the vote, referred to the Help not Harm bill, which prohibits gender transition surgeries and puberty blockers for minors. The Senate passed the bill 28-8 on May 7.

Shealy was one of the 28 who voted in favor of passing the bill, contrary to the implication of the flier.

“I’m known as the Senator for the children,” Shealy said to state Sen. Mia McLeod, I-Richland, during debate on the Help not Harm bill May 7. “I’m troubled in a lot of ways here because I’m torn. I’m torn because I know that we know we don’t need to have surgeries on children before they’re 18 years old, we know that. Children can make crazy decisions when they’re young.”

Shealy chairs the Senate Family and Veteran Services committee. She has worked to pass bills ranging from protecting children from domestic violence to cutting the tax on menstrual products.

The Help not Harm bill prohibits anyone under 18 from receiving gender transition procedures or puberty blockers for the use of transitioning. The bill sparked outrage from Democrats, community members and medical professionals, who argued that the state should not be telling parents how to treat their children medically.

The flier, with Shealy’s image plastered on the front, states she was not in support of the bill. The campaign mailer from the Faith and Freedom Coalition says “SEN. KATRINA SHEALY REFUSED TO HELP PROTECT CHILDREN.”

The back of the flier had a number of South Carolina politicians’ faces declaring them “pro-family leaders protecting children.” State Reps. Paula Calhoon, Micah Caskey, Chris Wooten and Ryan McCabe and Sen. Billy Garrett were listed with a story about a 10-year-old girl, Taylor, who took puberty blockers and then later in life was not able to have a child, which the flier blamed on the pubertal blockers.

The Faith and Freedom Coalition, a conservative evangelical non-profit, declined to comment for the story.

Shealy said she would never vote for anything that she wasn’t in favor of.

“We all know that’s not true,” Shealy said about the flier, “because I probably support children more than anybody else in the state of South Carolina. Every piece of legislation I write has to do with protecting children. They’re just doing that because they don’t have anything to run on.”

In small print, at the bottom of the front of the flier, it states “As of 4/29, — Shealy refused to sign on to the Senate version S. 627.”

Shealy said lots of lawmakers voted for the bill that weren’t sponsors. She votes in favor of many bills that she’s not a sponsor on, and has solo-sponsored many bills that others support, but don’t sponsor, too.