Republican Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina on Tuesday signed into law the “Help Not Harm Bill” (HB 4624), protecting children and adolescents from medical treatments for gender dysphoria that have been found to be based on “remarkably weak” evidence.
The new law, which makes South Carolina the 25th state to protect children with gender issues from invasive medical treatments, immediately shields minors under the age of 18 from puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and so-called “gender-affirmation” surgeries. The legislation also prohibits the use of public funds for such procedures.
Additionally, the law bans public schools from “withholding knowledge of a minor’s perception of their gender from the minor’s parents.”
In a post on X, McMaster stated that the law “protects our state’s children from irreversible gender transition procedures and bans public funds from being used for them.”
The governor added he would join state lawmakers and backers of the bill for a “ceremonial bill signing” next week.
LGBT activists condemned the legislation.
In an op-ed at The State, commentary writer Issac Bailey claimed the new law would “further demonize and terrorize one of the most vulnerable groups of people” and make it “nearly impossible for members of the transgender community to get the health care they need.”
“It’s a hateful law being touted as one designed to protect children,” Bailey wrote, because it blocks “medical professionals from overseeing hormone treatments and providing puberty blockers for children and teens, or performing gender-transition surgeries.”
“It forces educators to inform parents if their children want to use anything other than their legal name or pronouns that don’t match their birth sex,” he added.
Last week, LGBTQ Nation also lamented that the bill “requires educators to out trans students to their potentially unsupportive parents.”
But State Sen. Danny Verdin, R-Greenville, who chairs the South Carolina Senate Medical Affairs Committee, wrote at The State last week of his concern about the sharp rise in gender dysphoria diagnoses among young people.
Verdin noted that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) testified before a Medical Affairs subcommittee that “gender-affirming care” is the standard of care. The World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) – which the AAP has backed – is “the foremost voice in gender-affirming care,” the state senator observed.
Yet WPATH’s Standards of Care document “indicates there is only limited knowledge of the effects of blockers on brain development and suggests that pubertal suppression may lead to decreased bone mineral density,” Verdin continued. “The document also concedes that the long-term effects of blockers and hormones are not fully known.”
In fact, a recent exposé of WPATH by journalists Michael Shellenberger and Mia Hughes revealed gender medicine doctors indicating they are well aware they are recommending permanently life-altering drugs and surgical interventions to children and adolescents who are incapable, at their stage of cognitive development, of fully comprehending their consequences.
And the American College of Pediatricians has long attested to the lack of long-term evidence that “gender-affirming” medical treatments improve the mental health of young people with gender issues.
While the Biden administration continues to embrace gender ideology, half of the U.S. states have now taken legislative steps to protect children from experimental medical procedures.
In Europe, the UK appears to be leading the way in a return to safety and “common sense” for young people exhibiting psychological distress in the form of gender dysphoria.
Following the release of a final report from a “systematic review” of studies and guidelines pertaining to “gender-affirming” treatments, British pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass concluded in April that the model is based on “remarkably weak evidence.”
Cass’ report noted that “multiple studies” were found to show puberty blockers compromise bone density and fertility and can lead to other harmful effects. Additionally, most children and adolescents who are prescribed puberty blockers end up moving on to cross-sex hormones.
In the wake of the Cass report, England’s National Health Service (NHS) announced proposed changes to its constitution, including defining “sex” as “biological sex” and ending the use of terms that reflect gender ideology.
Additionally, UK education secretary Gillian Keegan recently announced a draft guidance to schools that ends mandatory sex education for children under nine years of age and bases its sex education curriculum for older children on “biological sex.” The proposed guidance also eliminates references to terms associated with LGBT activist groups.
Children, Keegan said, must receive “the right information at the right time, so that they know about the risks and how to avoid them, but also making sure that they are not exposed to too much too soon, taking away the innocence of childhood.”
