NC House committee passes bill banning transgender surgeries for minors

A bill that would ban transgender surgeries for minors in North Carolina was hurried through a House committee on Tuesday.

House Bill 808, Youth Health Protection Act, prohibits health care workers from providing “surgical gender transition procedures to any individual under 18 years of age.”

“If you are under the age of 18 in North Carolina, you cannot get a tattoo at all, even with your parents’ consent,” said Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, the lead sponsor on the bill. “You can’t get a body piercing, other than for earrings, without parent consent. But we allow these surgical procedures that, in many instances, maybe are irreversible and life-changing for children who have not arrived at 18 years of age.”

H.B. 808 passed the House Health Committee in a voice vote without debate. The hurried nature of the vote led to shouting from some members of the public who came to speak on the bill.

“This bill is not an attempt to hurt trans children,” said Rep. Ken Fontenot, R-Wilson. “It is an attempt to help protect vulnerable populations, when [gender transition surgeries] are clearly still experimental.”

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