South Carolina Bans Gender-Affirming Care for Minors and Limits Access for Adults

Jeffrey Collins/AP Photo

South Carolina has become the latest state to ban gender-affirming care for minors.

Republican Governor Henry McMaster announced on Tuesday afternoon that he has signed H. 4624, the so-called Help Not Harm Bill, which prohibits physicians from providing gender-affirming care to anyone under 18. More broadly, the legislation bans the use of public funds for gender-affirming care for people of all ages, including those on Medicaid.

The bill also prohibits nurses, teachers and school administrators from withholding information about a minor’s transgender identity from their parents, including requests to use pronouns that don’t align with their birth sex. The law will take effect immediately.

Contrary to McMaster’s statement on social media that the legislation “protects our state’s children from irreversible gender transition procedures,” the vast majority of gender-affirming care administered to minors is reversible, according to the American Academy of Medical Colleges. Most gender-affirming care provided for people under 18 involves hormones, such as puberty blockers, not surgery. Every major medical association supports gender-affirming care for transgender youth, according to GLAAD.

South Carolina joins more than 20 states that have banned gender-affirming care for minors, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

As is common with such laws, medical professionals found in violation would be “subject to discipline” by their licensing board and potential legal action. A physician who performs surgery would face charges of “inflicting great bodily injury upon a child,” and could face up to 20 years in prison, according to CNN.

“We can put to rest the notion that the governor cares about limited government and personal freedom,” executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina Jace Woodrum said in a statement issued Tuesday. “With the stroke of a pen, he has chosen to insert the will of politicians into healthcare decisions, trample on the liberties of trans South Carolinians, and deny the rights of the parents of trans minors.”

The Human Rights Campaign called the law “a major violation of South Carolinians’ freedoms” in a statement to CNN, adding that the legislation would “plunge the transgender community into a deeper health care crisis.” The statement also noted that Virginia is now the only Southern state without a ban on gender-affirming care for people under 18.

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Originally Appeared on them.