Jace Woodrum, Executive Director of the ACLU of South Carolina, today released the statement below after the South Carolina Legislature voted to pass H. 4624, a bill that would ban minors in this state from undergoing gender-affirming procedures and prohibit state/Medicaid money from covering them for anyone (including adults). The bill now head's to Governor Henry McMaster's desk.
"After months of overwhelming testimony against House Bill 4624, over the objections of the state's leading pediatricians and medical organizations, our lawmakers decided to take away the rights of parents to make healthcare decisions for their children. We urge Gov. McMaster to veto this harmful and unconstitutional bill.
We are also urging supporters of our trans neighbors to write the governor demanding a veto. https://action.aclu.org/send-
We’ve been fighting this bill since January. Here is some background and context from our previous publications on this issue.
In addition to lacking medical evidence and violating the civil liberties of South Carolinians, H. 4624 lacks popular support. A recent poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy asked registered South Carolina voters the following question: "If parents are already involved in the decision-making process, do you feel government should or should not intervene in LGBTQ gender-affirming health care decisions that regard individuals under the age of 18?" The results were unequivocal: 71% of respondents stated that the government should not intervene. https://www.affa-action.org/
At a January 9th House subcommittee hearing on this bill, 47 South Carolinians spoke in opposition to this bill, including the president of the South Carolina Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. One person, an out-of-state representative of the far-right Alliance Defending Freedom, spoke in favor of it via a virtual testimony. The House committee and the full House voted to the bill anyway, citing Reddit posts and half-remembered statistics from a 60 Minutes segment as their evidence. https://www.aclusc.org/en/
A Senate subcommittee heard testimony, but cut off opponents of the bill before they could finish. On Feb. 14, South Carolinians speaking in opposition to H. 4624 continued to testify for an hour on the State House steps after the subcommittee hearing ended. https://www.aclusc.org/en/
