COLUMBIA – Legislators in the South Carolina House of Representatives have hurriedly introduced a bill to the House floor that had prevent children and their parents from receiving the medical care they require in order to protect them.
Leading Republicans in the House are quickly tracking House Bill 4624, a bill that would prohibit gender-affirming care for trans South Carolinians under the age of 18 and harm healthcare companies with the loss of their health registration. The bill passed out of committee on Wednesday.
I want better for transgender children now as a trans man from South Carolina. According to ACLU-SC Executive Director Jace Woodrum, their rights and the rights of their people are never a political plaything. ” To see lawmakers discard medical knowledge, clinical evidence, and the profound evidence of loving families of transgender kids today disgusted us but did not surprise us.” Voting in favor of this bill would mean taking away the medical from helpless children who deserve much better.
The lawmakers who are pushing for this act cannot claim ignorance of the damage they are causing. A small army of doctors, lawyers, teachers, parents, trans grownups, and friends of trans minors laid out the facts for more than 3 hours on Tuesday evening:
- Gender-affirming attention, which includes the use of hormone therapy and puberty blockers, is a best practice supported by top health organizations and backed by scientific research.
- The only effective treatment for transgender children to prevent self-harm and suicidal ideation is gender affirming care, which saves lives.
- Individuals now don’t get gender-affirming attention without going through a protracted process that involves many medical professionals and the approval of parents or legal guardians.
- Minors in South Carolina are not eligible for female assurance surgery, regardless of filial consent.
In a committee hearing on Tuesday, 47 people in total spoke against H. 4624. Physicians shared the vast body of clinical data and their individual expertise treating the mental health needs of trans patients in their attention, while parents and grandparents talked about the struggles and victories of their trans children.
One person, an out-of-state member of the far-right Alliance Defending Freedom, provided digital testimony in support. Rep. John McCravy (R-Greenwood ) cited some dubious statistics from a 60 Minutes episode instead of conducting any scientific research. This was the total amount of “evidence” offered in support of this dangerous, divisive, ideologically motivated costs.
Legislators like Rep. Thomas Beach, who boasted last year that he was a “gangster” for pressuring the Medical University of South Carolina to stop providing gender-affirming treatment, disregarded the professional evidence, and pushed the bill through.
The act was advanced by a committee on Tuesday, 5–1, and the whole House Medical, Military, Public, and Municipal Affairs Committee on Wednesday, 14–3, as opposed to being killed.
