N.C. Lawmakers Advance Multiple Bills Banning Gender-Affirming Health Care

RALEIGH, N.C. — Today, the North Carolina legislature advanced two bills that ban or severely restrict gender-affirming care for anyone under 18, including hormone therapy.

Senate Bill 631 bans the provision of gender-affirming care for minors by public health care facilities, their affiliates, or any providers who contract with public health care facilities. S.B. 631 would not allow these entities or individuals to provide gender-affirming care, even to minors who are already receiving it. An amended version of the bill was approved by the House today and now heads back to the Senate for a final concurrence vote.

In a similar move, House Bill 808 was amended today to prevent health care providers from providing gender-affirming health care, including gender-affirming hormone therapy, to anyone under the age of 18, with very limited exceptions. Today, the amended version of the bill passed the Senate Health Committee and now advances to the Senate Judiciary Committee. If ultimately approved by the full Senate, H.B. 808 would move back to the House for a final concurrence vote.

“Gender-affirming health care is essential, life-saving care, and it is absolutely shameful and dangerous to take it away from young people in this state,” said Jillian Riley, Director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. “Once again, state politicians are using their power and shameful maneuvering behind closed doors to bully some of our most vulnerable neighbors and take control of their private health care decisions, using young people as political pawns in yet another immoral and irresponsible culture war. Particularly as we celebrate Pride Month, these bills are government overreach and callousness at its ugliest.”

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) provides gender-affirming health care, including hormone therapy, at all nine health centers in North Carolina. Gender-affirming care, guided by evidence-based standards of care, is considered a medical necessity by nearly every major medical association in the United States due to the overwhelming evidence that it greatly improves health outcomes for patients who are transgender or nonbinary.

State lawmakers also advanced two additional bills that target LGBTQ+ youth, including House Bill 574, which bans youth who are transgender from participating in athletics, and Senate Bill 49, which would target educators, healthcare professionals, and LGBTQ+ youth and families for discrimination and exclusion.

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