South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has signed a bill that bans transgender procedures and treatments for minors.
McMaster announced his move in a statement posted on X, saying, “I signed the Help Not Harm bill into law, which protects our state’s children from irreversible gender transition procedures and bans public funds from being used for them.”
“I look forward to joining legislators and supporters at a ceremonial bill signing in the Upstate next week,” he added.
I signed the Help Not Harm bill into law, which protects our state’s children from irreversible gender transition procedures and bans public funds from being used for them. I look forward to joining legislators and supporters at a ceremonial bill signing in the Upstate next week. pic.twitter.com/7RTDYGGGDU
— Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) May 21, 2024
The legislation prohibits medical professionals from performing, prescribing or overseeing gender-transition procedures, puberty blockers and hormone treatments for patients who are under 18 years.
The law only allows doctors to prescribe some of the treatments for minors only to treat issues that the treatments were designed for, according to the Associated Press. For instance, a child who has a medical condition that causes them to begin puberty as soon as age 4 can be allowed to use puberty blockers legitimately.
Under the law, schools are also required to notify parents should their child want to use a different name or pronoun different from their biological gender.
The bill, known as House bill 4624, was passed by the South Carolina legislature earlier this month.
“When God created us, he created us male and female, that’s it. All these other folks that want to change that from birth, change that through their life, we need to stand up against that,” David Hiott, the House majority leader and a co-sponsor of the bill, said at the start of the legislative session in January.
The signing of the bill into law makes South Carolina the 25th state in the United States to pass laws cracking down on transgender treatments and procedures. Before the signing, South Carolina and Virginia were the only states in the South without a ban on gender-transition treatment and procedures for minors.
The laws have, however, been blocked in three states, as lawsuits have been filed in many of the states with laws banning gender-transition care.
