Current:Home > MySouth Carolina Republicans back trans youth health care ban despite pushback from parents, doctors-LoTradeCoin
South Carolina Republicans back trans youth health care ban despite pushback from parents, doctors
View Date:2024-12-24 00:04:14
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Pleas from transgender children’s pediatricians and parents to keep allowing such kids to receive hormone therapies failed to stop Republican lawmakers from advancing a ban on those treatments to the South Carolina House floor on Wednesday.
The GOP-led Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee voted to advance the bill within the first two days of the 2024 legislative session. At least 22 states have enacted similar restrictions amid recent Republican-led crackdowns on transgender medical care, bathroom usage and sports participation.
The speedy movement underscores South Carolina House Republicans’ prioritization of the conservative issue at the outset of an election year that will pit incumbents against primary challengers from the right.
The bill would bar health professionals from performing gender transition surgery, prescribing puberty-blocking drugs and overseeing hormone therapy for anyone under 18 years old. It also prevents Medicaid from covering such care for anyone under the age of 26.
Matt Sharp, senior counsel for a national Christian conservative advocacy group called the Alliance Defending Freedom, appeared virtually as the lone public testifier supporting the bill. Sharp, an out-of-state lawyer, claimed that children susceptible to “peer pressure” might experience irreversible negative consequences later in life if “experimental procedures” are allowed to continue.
Major medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, endorse transgender youth care as safe when administered properly.
South Carolina pediatricians stressed that minors in the state do not receive gender transition surgeries and that the other forms of care are lifesaving for young people who might otherwise turn to self-harm. Treatments occur with “fully-involved” parents’ consent, according to Dr. Deborah Greenhouse. The pediatrician, who said she has cared for a number of transgender children over more than 30 years in the field, added that minors do not begin taking such medication until puberty begins.
Greenhouse said the proposed ban would make the already difficult path for transgender youth to obtain medical care “even more torturous and virtually impossible to navigate.”
Retired naval officer Dave Bell and Rebecca Bell, a software integrator, testified that their 15-year-old transgender daughter’s “painful journey” has ultimately alleviated her anxiety and depression, noting that she expressed a desire to die before they started letting her live as a young girl. They said their family visited seven times with an endocrinologist over a three-year period before their daughter started puberty blockers. Their daughter has been seeing mental health counselors for more than seven years, including a gender therapist.
Eric Childs, of Pelzer, said it’s up to his 15-year-old transgender son to decide whether to undergo hormone replacement therapy and not lawmakers. He said his son hasn’t begun the treatment but that the family wants to ensure he has every medically recommended option available. None of their health care decisions have been taken “on a whim,” he added.
“Absolutely every last bit of it has been a conversation: anxious, worried, whatever we could do in his best interest,” Childs, who identified himself as a combat veteran, told the Associated Press.
In addition to banning gender transition surgery, puberty-blocking drugs and hormone therapies for minors, the bill would forbid school employees from withholding knowledge of a student’s transgender identity from their legal guardians. Opponents decried this provision as “forced outing” that would place vulnerable children from unloving households at risk of homelessness and domestic abuse. Democrats said the move would overburden teachers who aren’t trained to recognize gender dysphoria.
Republican state Rep. Jordan Pace said that when he was an educator, he thinks he would have been neglecting his duty if he had he ever concealed such information from parents.
“Parents need to know what’s going on in their child’s life,” Republican state Rep. Thomas Beach said.
___
Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
veryGood! (8)
Related
- Ranked voting will decide a pivotal congressional race. How does that work?
- 5 things to know about Southwest's disastrous meltdown
- Belarusian Victoria Azarenka says it was unfair to be booed at Wimbledon after match with Ukrainian Elina Svitolina
- Young Voters, Motivated by Climate Change and Environmental Justice, Helped Propel Biden’s Campaign
- Why Officials Believe a Missing Kayaker Faked His Own Death and Ran Off to Europe
- Amazon CEO says company will lay off more than 18,000 workers
- Madonna says she's on the road to recovery and will reschedule tour after sudden stint in ICU
- Will a Summer of Climate Crises Lead to Climate Action? It’s Not Looking Good
- Charles Hanover: A Summary of the UK Stock Market in 2023
- Text: Joe Biden on Climate Change, ‘a Global Crisis That Requires American Leadership’
Ranking
- NFL Week 10 winners, losers: Cowboys' season can no longer be saved
- Efforts To Cut Georgia Ports’ Emissions Lack Concrete Goals
- FTC wants to ban fake product reviews, warning that AI could make things worse
- Intense cold strained, but didn't break, the U.S. electric grid. That was lucky
- Song Jae-lim, Moon Embracing the Sun Actor, Dead at 39
- Clothes That Show Your Pride: Rainbow Fleece Pants, Sweaters, Workout Leggings & More
- Post Election, Climate and Racial Justice Protesters Gather in Boston Over Ballot Counting
- Maine lobster industry wins reprieve but environmentalists say whales will die
Recommendation
-
Mike Tyson impresses crowd during workout ahead of Jake Paul fight
-
Buying a home became a key way to build wealth. What happens if you can't afford to?
-
The Rest of the Story, 2022
-
Inside Clean Energy: The Case for Optimism
-
15 new movies you'll want to stream this holiday season, from 'Emilia Perez' to 'Maria'
-
Bed Bath & Beyond warns that it may go bankrupt
-
Climate Activists See ‘New Era’ After Three Major Oil and Gas Pipeline Defeats
-
NYC could lose 10,000 Airbnb listings because of new short-term rental regulations