Bill > H786

Introduced Session

AN ACT TO PROTECT MINORS FROM ADMINISTRATION OF PUBERTY BLOCKERS AND CROSS-SEX HORMONES AND OTHER RELATED ACTIONS, PROCEDURES, AND TREATMENTS AND TO PROHIBIT OBSCENITY ON SMART PHONES FOR MINORS. Whereas, the State of North Carolina has a compelling government interest in protecting the health and safety of its citizens, especially vulnerable children; and Whereas, the sex of a person is the biological state of being female or male, based on sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous hormone profiles, and is genetically encoded into a person at the moment of conception, and it cannot be changed; and Whereas, some individuals, including minors, may experience discordance between their sex and their internal sense of identity, and individuals who experience severe psychological distress as a result of this discordance may be diagnosed with gender dysphoria; and Whereas, the cause of the individual's impression of discordance between sex and identity is unknown, and the diagnosis is based exclusively on the individual's self-report of feelings and beliefs; and Whereas, this internal sense of discordance is not permanent or fixed, but to the contrary, numerous studies have shown that a substantial majority of children who experience discordance between their sex and identity will outgrow the discordance once they go through puberty and will eventually have an identity that aligns with their sex; and Whereas, as a result, taking a "wait-and-see" approach to children who reveal signs of gender nonconformity results in a large majority of those children resolving to an identity congruent with their sex by late adolescence; and Whereas, some in the medical community are aggressively pushing for interventions on minors that medically alter the child's hormonal balance and remove healthy external and internal sex organs when the child expresses a desire to appear as a sex different from his or her own; and Whereas, this course of treatment for minors commonly begins with encouraging and assisting the child to socially transition to dressing and presenting as the opposite sex. In the case of prepubertal children, as puberty begins, doctors then administer long-acting GnRH agonist (puberty blockers) that suppress the pubertal development of the child. This use of puberty blockers for gender nonconforming children is experimental and not FDA-approved; and Whereas, after puberty blockade, the child is later administered "cross-sex" hormonal treatments that induce the development of secondary sex characteristics of the other sex, such as causing the development of breasts and wider hips in male children taking estrogen and greater muscle mass, bone density, body hair, and a deeper voice in female children taking testosterone. Some children are administered these hormones independent of any prior pubertal blockade; and Whereas, the final phase of treatment is for the individual to undergo cosmetic and other surgical procedures, often to create an appearance similar to that of the opposite sex. These surgical procedures may include a mastectomy to remove a female adolescent's breasts and "bottom surgery" that removes a minor's healthy reproductive organs and creates an artificial form aiming to approximate the appearance of the genitals of the opposite sex; and Whereas, for minors who are placed on puberty blockers that inhibit their bodies from experiencing the natural process of sexual development, the overwhelming majority will continue down a path toward cross-sex hormones and cosmetic surgery; and Whereas, this unproven, poorly studied series of interventions results in numerous harmful effects for minors, as well as risks of effects simply unknown due to the new and experimental nature of these interventions; and Whereas, among the known harms from puberty blockers is diminished bone density; the full effect of puberty blockers on brain development and cognition is yet unknown, though reason for concern is now present. There is no research on the long-term risks to minors of persistent exposure to puberty blockers. With the administration of cross-sex hormones comes increased risks of cardiovascular disease, thromboembolic stroke, asthma, COPD, and cancer; and Whereas, puberty blockers prevent gonadal maturation and thus render patients taking these drugs infertile. Introducing cross-sex hormones to children with immature gonads as a direct result of pubertal blockade is expected to cause irreversible sterility. Sterilization is also permanent for those who undergo surgery to remove reproductive organs, and such persons are likely to suffer through a lifetime of complications from the surgery, infections, and other difficulties requiring yet more medical intervention; and Whereas, several studies demonstrate that hormonal and surgical interventions often do not resolve the underlying psychological issues affecting the individual. For example, individuals who undergo cross-sex cosmetic surgical procedures have been found to suffer from elevated mortality rates higher than the general population. They experience significantly higher rates of substance abuse, depression, and psychiatric hospitalizations; and Whereas, minors, and often their parents, are unable to comprehend and fully appreciate the risk and life implications-including permanent sterility-that result from the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures; and Whereas, it is of grave concern to this legislature that the medical community is allowing individuals who experience distress with their biological sex to be subjects of irreversible and drastic non-genital gender reassignment surgery and irreversible, permanently sterilizing genital gender reassignment surgeries, despite the lack of studies showing that such extreme interventions have benefits that outweigh their risks or chances of cure. In fact, they may increase the risk of suicide; and Whereas, for these reasons, the decision to pursue a course of hormonal and surgical interventions to address a discordance between the individual's sex and sense of identity should not be presented to or determined for minors who are incapable of comprehending the negative implications and life-course difficulties attending to these interventions; Now, therefore,

Committee Categories

Mark Brody (R)*,  Neal Jackson (R)*,  Keith Kidwell (R)*,  Jeff McNeely (R),  David Willis (R), 

Ref to the Com on Health, if favorable, Families, Children, and Aging Policy, if favorable, Judiciary 1, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House (on 04/19/2023)

Official Document