South Carolina Senate approves ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Senate on Thursday approved a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors after supporters rejected efforts to ban only treatments that would be considered irreversible.

The 27-8 vote included all Republicans present and one Democrat voting in favor of the ban. That came after the remaining Democrats tried to walk away so there wouldn’t be enough senators to remain in session, but the vote was called too quickly.

The bill bans healthcare workers from performing gender transition surgeries, prescribing puberty blockers and supervising hormone treatments for patients under 18.

School principals or vice principals would be required to notify parents or guardians if a child wished to use a name other than the legal name, or a nickname or pronouns that did not correspond to the gender assigned at birth.

The House of Representatives passed the bill in January, but the Senate made changes so that the House can vote to pass the Senate version or it will go to a conference committee of three members from each chamber to resolve the differences .

“There are some things in the nature of creation — male and female is one of them — that go beyond what you and I believe,” Republican Sen. Richard Cash said on the Senate floor before debate began Thursday. “It is rooted in creation. ; it is rooted in the creator, and those who oppose it are, in a sense, opposing the nature of creation itself.”

The bill would also prevent people from using Medicaid to cover the costs of gender-affirming care.

A number of amendments have been adopted. In one, chaplains can talk about banned treatments – and even suggest a place where they are legal. In a second phase, doctors can prescribe puberty blockers for some conditions for which they are prescribed, for example when a child begins so-called precocious puberty when he or she is only four years old.

Opponents failed to get an amendment that would ban only treatments deemed irreversible after proponents of the bill questioned who would get to decide which treatments would fall under that provision.

The changes made a bad bill only slightly less worse, said Democratic Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto.

“Children are born who they want to be. Parents interact with the children who come to them. Doctors are trained to deal with children with these types of problems. The government really has no role in this,” says Hutto. “Let the children be who they are.”

Doctors and parents have testified before committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate that people under the age of 18 in South Carolina do not undergo gender transition surgeries and that hormone treatments begin only after extensive consultation with health care professionals.

They said the treatments could be lifesaving, helping young transgender people live more fulfilling lives. Research has shown that transgender youth and adults are prone to stress, depression and suicidal behavior when forced to live according to the gender assigned to them at birth.

Proponents of the bill have cited their own unpublished evidence that puberty blockers increase self-harm and may be irreversible.

Supporters’ invocation of religion irritated Democratic Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine. She said senators in the bill failed to demonstrate a Christian concern for all.

“I’m not going to sit back and judge families who are going through scenarios that I know nothing about,” Devine said. “I’m going to be compassionate. I’m going to be empathetic and I’m going to try to understand. That’s what my God tells me.”

If the bill reaches the governor’s desk and is signed, South Carolina would become the 25th state to restrict or ban such care for minors.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said that when the session began in January, his chamber was unlikely to take up many social issues this year. But on Thursday he said the bill was always on the radar.

Republican Sen. Danny Verdin said polls show South Carolina voters support the ban. With all senators up for re-election this year, that idea could be tested at the ballot box.

“If you put it next to taxes, if you put it next to infrastructure, if you put it next to paying our school teachers or paying our law enforcement officers, this is the highest point. It trumps everything,” Verdin said.