South Carolina Legislature Passes Ban on Gender Affirming Care for Transgender Youth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 10, 2024

South Carolina Legislature Passes Ban on Gender Affirming Care for Transgender Youth

CONTACT: Planned Parenthood South Atlantic Media Office at [email protected]

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Yesterday, the South Carolina legislature voted on the final passage of HB 4624. Under HB 4624, medical providers are banned from providing gender-affirming health care for anyone under 18, and they will be forced to stop providing treatment to patients already receiving these types of care, such as hormone therapy. School officials will also be required to “out” children who are questioning their gender to their parents, potentially before they are ready to share. Gender affirming treatment for anyone under the age of 26 will now also no longer be covered by Medicaid. The law will take effect when it is signed by Governor McMaster.

Gender affirming hormone therapy is a therapeutic option that affirms a patient’s gender identity by administering estrogen-based, testosterone-based, or puberty-blocking hormones. With parental consent, minors seeking gender affirming care were previously permitted to receive hormone therapy with puberty blockers in South Carolina. This gave young people and their families more time to decide if other forms of gender affirming care are right for them. No doctors or hospitals in this state provide surgery for transgender minors. 

Gender affirming care, guided by evidence-based standards of care, is considered a medical necessity by nearly every major medical association in the United States due to the overwhelming evidence that it greatly improves health outcomes for patients who are transgender or nonbinary. 

Statement from Planned Parenthood South Atlantic’s South Carolina Director of Public Affairs Vicki Ringer:

“People of all gender identities deserve basic human rights, including the right to high-quality and nonjudgmental health care. These medical decisions must be made by health care providers, the patient and their families – not politicians. We are outraged that legislators have yet again prioritized their political agenda and are endangering lives while doing it – forsaking their duty to serve all the people of South Carolina by taking fundamental rights from some of our state’s most vulnerable young people. We will not stop fighting until everyone is able to live safe, fulfilling lives and have full autonomy over their private medical decisions.”

Statement from Planned Parenthood South Atlantic’s Gender Affirming Care Program Director Natalie Frazier:

“Gender-affirming health care is essential, life-saving care. Against all medical evidence, the legislature has passed HB 4624, depriving young people and families across the state of their ability to access this critical health care. Let’s be clear that politicians can’t legislate away the existence of transgender youth. Just because they remove access to care, doesn’t mean that there aren’t transgender young people who need it. Denying medical care and support poses a real, immediate threat to the lives of transgender young people. 

As this harmful law takes effect, we want all transgender and non-binary youth in South Carolina to know that they are seen and valued. We will always support you and will never stop fighting for your ability to live your truth.”

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