COLUMBIA, S.C. – Governor Henry McMaster today was joined by nine other Republican governors in filing an amicus brief in United States v. Skrmetti supporting Tennessee's so-called Help Not Harm Law that prohibits physicians from performing or providing gender-reassignment surgeries, puberty-blocking drugs, and cross-sex hormones to minors. The case will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this term.
"Governors have signed these prohibitions on experimental gender-transition procedures into law because they–and the citizens of their States–want to protect children. The goal is to keep children from making life-changing decisions that they may later regret," the brief says. "That's not some radical position. States prohibit children from making certain decisions all the time."
Despite the brief's claims, just about every major medical association, which is represented by over 1.3 million U.S. doctors, say gender-affirming care is medically necessary, safe health care backed by decades of research. Gender-affirming care is a range of services, including mental health care, medical care, and social services.
In March 2023, Tennessee passed its version of the Help Not Harm Law, which was initially blocked by a district court following a lawsuit from the ACLU, claiming the law violated the Fourteenth Amendment. However, the Sixth Circuit of Appeals reversed the ruling in September 2023. The case now heads to the U.S. Supreme Court after a writ of certiorari was issued in June 2024.
Gov. McMaster signed South Carolina’s Help Not Harm Law in May 2024. South Carolina’s law prohibits healthcare professionals from knowingly providing gender-transition procedures to a person under 18 years of age. Gender-transition procedures are defined in the law as puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, or genital or nongenital gender-reassignment surgery used for the purpose of assisting an individual with a physical gender transition.
The following governors joined Governor McMaster's brief: Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, Governor Brian P. Kemp of Georgia, Governor Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Governor Tate Reeves of Mississippi, Governor J. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota, and Governor Spencer J. Cox of Utah.
The full brief can be found here.
