North Carolina’s GOP-controlled state House has approved a bill that prohibits doctors from performing gender-affirming surgeries on minors. The bill, which takes effect on October 1st, prohibits state funds from being used to perform any gender-affirming procedure on a patient younger than 18. Doctors would also be unable to refer minors to another healthcare provider to receive gender-affirming surgeries. If passed by the Senate, it will require transgender youth to wait until they turn 18 to receive gender-affirming surgeries.
Republican sponsors of the bill argue that the legislation will protect minors from receiving irreversible procedures before they are old enough to make informed medical decisions. They also claim that performing gender-affirming surgeries on children and teenagers is “a grave injustice”. Meanwhile, transgender residents have expressed concern that the restrictions would have a detrimental effect on youth mental health.
Several Democrats, including Rep. Maria Cervania of Wake County, denounced the surgery bill as another unwarranted attack on transgender youth. The trans community is already experiencing a mental health crisis, she said, adding that legislation like this only serves to “demonize and target” the state’s most vulnerable residents.
The General Assembly, like many Republican-led legislatures across the nation, is advancing a swath of bills aimed at trans residents, including restrictions on trans participation in sports, bans on public drag performances and requirements that schools alert parents before addressing their child with a different name or pronoun.
At least 16 states have enacted similar laws restricting or banning gender-affirming procedures for minors. Federal judges have blocked enforcement of laws in Alabama and Arkansas, and nearly two dozen other states are considering bills this year to restrict or ban transgender surgeries or hormone treatments.
Rae Bandy, a transgender person who spoke on the bill in committee this week, told The Associated Press they barely made it to adulthood without access to gender-affirming care as a kid growing up in Texas. “We are just asking you to step back from our healthcare because, frankly, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” the 22-year-old told lawmakers earlier Wednesday. “We as patients, as parents, and as medical professionals need to be making these decisions — not you.”
If passed by the Senate, North Carolina will join several other states in banning or restricting gender-affirming surgeries and treatments for minors, despite concerns that these restrictions could be detrimental to their mental health.