N.C. Lawmakers Override Governor’s Veto of Bills Targeting Transgender Youth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 16, 2023

N.C. Lawmakers Override Governor’s Veto of Bills Targeting Transgender Youth

CONTACT: Molly Rivera, [email protected] or 919-438-1109

RALEIGH, N.C. — Today, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to override Governor Cooper’s veto of House Bill 808, a bill that bans gender-affirming health care for young people. Lawmakers also voted to override the governor’s veto of House Bill 574, which prevents youth who are transgender from participating in school athletics, and Senate Bill 49, which censors curriculum and forces school staff to "out" students. All three bills become law immediately. 

H.B. 808 prevents health care providers from providing gender-affirming health care, including gender-affirming hormone therapy, to anyone under the age of 18, with limited exceptions. Any medical provider who violates the law will be subject to loss of their medical license. Young people who initiate care after August 1 in North Carolina will now be forced to travel out of state for this care.

“Before they passed a budget or expanded Medicaid, North Carolina lawmakers decided to attack kids who are transgender,” said Jillian Riley, Director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. “Once again, the leaders of the North Carolina General Assembly are using their power to bully some of our most vulnerable neighbors and interfere with medical best practices. No one should have to justify their health care to a politician, period.”

“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 Natalie Frazier, Certified Nurse-Midwife and Clinician Supervisor at Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. “Restrictions on this care are opposed by medical bodies and organizations across the country who consistently warn such policies threaten the lives of transgender young people. We want all transgender and queer youth in North Carolina to know that we see you, and we encourage people to contact us for help if they need access to care.”

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. 32.2% of transgender youth already live in states that have passed bans on gender-affirming care. Medical experts warn that laws like H.B. 808 will have profound mental health consequences, including increasing the already high risk of suicide for transgender youth. 

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) provides gender-affirming health care, including hormone therapy, at all nine health centers in North Carolina.