Indicates Matter Stricken

Indicates New Matter

As Passed By The Senate

May 02, 2024

H. 4624

Introduced by Reps. Hiott, G. M. Smith, McCravy, Davis, Vaughan, Trantham, Pope, Chapman, Taylor, Oremus, Hartnett, Leber, Long, Nutt, Haddon, Burns, Chumley, Murphy, Mitchell, Brewer, Robbins, Gatch, West, Gilliam, Cromer, Kilmartin, O'Neal, Yow, S. Jones, Landing, Ballentine, Sandifer, Crawford, Guest, Willis, Ligon, Forrest, Pace, W. Newton, Bradley, Erickson, Gibson, Blackwell and M. M. Smith

S. Printed 05/02/24--S.                                                                         [SEC 5/7/2024 11:48 AM]

Read the first time January 18, 2024

________

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING CHAPTER 42 to TITLE 44 SO AS TO DEFINE GENDER, SEX, AND OTHER TERMS, TO PROHIBIT THE PROVISION OF GENDER TRANSITION PROCEDURES TO A PERSON UNDER EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE, TO PROVIDE EXCEPTIONS, TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF PUBLIC FUNDS FOR GENDER TRANSITION PROCEDURES, AND TO PROVIDE PENALTIES; AND BY ADDING SECTION 59-32-36 SO AS TO PROHIBIT PUBLIC SCHOOL STAFF AND OFFICIALS FROM WITHHOLDING KNOWLEDGE OF A MINOR'S PERCEPTION OF THEIR GENDER FROM THE MINOR'S PARENTS, AMONG OTHER THINGS.

    Amend Title To Conform

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1.  Title 44 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

    CHAPTER 42

    Gender Reassignment Procedures

    Section 44-42-310. For the purposes of this article:

       (1) "Sex" means the biological indication of male and female in the context of reproductive potential or capacity, such as sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, gonads, and nonambiguous internal and external genitalia present at birth, without regard to an individual's psychological, chosen, or subjective experience of gender.

       (2) "Cross-sex hormones" means testosterone, estrogen, or progesterone given to an individual in an amount greater than would normally be produced endogenously in a healthy individual of that individual's age and sex.

       (3) "Gender" means the psychological, behavioral, social, and cultural aspects of being male or female.

       (4) "Gender reassignment surgery" means any surgical service that seeks to surgically alter or remove healthy physical or anatomical characteristics or features that are typical for the individual's sex, in order to instill or create physiological or anatomical characteristics that resemble a sex different from the individual's sex including, without limitation, genital or nongenital gender reassignment surgery performed for the purpose of assisting an individual with a gender transition.

       (5) "Gender transition" means the process in which a person goes from identifying with and living as a gender that corresponds to his or her sex to identifying with and living as a gender different from his or her sex, and may involve social, legal, or physical changes.

       (6) "Gender transition procedures" means puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, or genital or nongenital gender reassignment surgery, provided or performed for the purpose of assisting an individual with a physical gender transition.

       (7) "Genital gender reassignment surgery" means a surgical procedure performed for the purpose of assisting an individual with a physical gender transition including, without limitation, penectomy, orchiectomy, vaginoplasty, clitoroplasty, vulvoplasty, hysterectomy, ophorectomy, reconstruction of the urethra, metoidioplasty or phalloplasty, vaginectomy, scrotoplasty, or implantation of erection and/or testicular prostheses.

       (8) "Nongenital gender reassignment surgery" means surgical procedures performed for the purpose of assisting an individual with a physical gender transition including, without limitation, augmentation mammoplasty, facial feminization surgery, liposuction, lipofilling, voice surgery, thyroid cartilage reduction, gluteal augmentation, hair reconstruction, subcutaneous mastectomy, pectoral implants, or various aesthetic procedures.

       (9) "Puberty