South Carolina governor signs ban on transgender procedures for minors

05/28/2024 / By Laura Harris

South Carolina has become the 25th state in the union to restrict so-called “gender-affirming” care for minors after Republican Gov. Henry McMaster signed H. 4624, the “Health Not Harm” bill, into law.

H. 4624, prohibits medical professionals from providing hormone treatments, puberty blockers and performing gender reassignment surgeries for all patients under 18 years old. The law also bans the use of public funds for gender transition practices and prohibits Medicaid from covering or reimbursing these procedures. (Related: South Carolina Senate bans use of puberty blockers and genital mutilation of children.)

Physicians, mental health providers or healthcare professionals found guilty of providing gender transition procedures to minors could lose their medical licenses or face criminal charges of “inflicting great bodily injury upon a child” with 20 years of imprisonment.

Additionally, the bill reinforces parental rights regarding gender identity issues in schools. H. 4624 mandates that school principals or vice principals inform parents or guardians if a student requests to use a name, nickname or pronouns that differs from their sex assigned at birth. The bill also prohibits school employees from hiding information about a child’s gender identity from their parents or encouraging children to withhold such information.

The newly enacted law takes effect immediately, but minors who start or have already started using puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones before Aug. 1 must be gradually weaned off these medications by Jan. 31, 2025, if discontinuing them immediately would harm them.

McMaster stated that the law “protects our state’s children from irreversible gender transition procedures and bans public funds from being used for them” during the signing of the bill.

“If they want to make those decisions later when they’re adults, then that’s a different story, but we must protect our young people from irreversible decisions,” McMaster said.

Study proves that irreversible transgender procedures harm children

The law has faced opposition from different leftists and “woke” advocates.

“We can put to rest the notion that the governor cares about limited government and personal freedom,” said Jace Woodrum, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina. “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 Campaign for Southern Equality echoed the statement.

“Healthcare is a human right and it breaks my heart to see lawmakers rip away life-affirming and often life-saving medical care from transgender youth in South Carolina. No one should be forced to leave their home state to access the care that they need and deserve,” said Raymond Velazquez, the executive director of Uplift Outreach Center.

However, supporters of the bill argue that puberty blockers heighten the risk of self-harm and can lead to irreversible consequences.

An analysis of a 2011 study, conducted by the University College London Hospitals and the Tavistock Center Gender Identity Development Service, found that at least 34 percent of children given puberty-blocking drugs experienced significant deterioration.

The study only evaluated 44 samples, so the model size is small. But a good number of the kids aged 12 to 15 still suffered greatly after being prescribed these poisons to become trans.

Head over to Gender.news for more stories about the pushback against transgenderism.

Watch this Epoch TV report about a California judge dropping a bombshell decision on a transgender-related case.

This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.