Don’t be fooled by Nancy Mace. ‘Sex change surgeries’ on children are not happening in SC

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace is once again peddling misinformation that can hurt children, hospitals and doctors in South Carolina.

Mace’s latest propaganda on child “sex change surgeries” should be thrown out like the medical waste it is.

Let’s be clear — “sex change surgeries” on minors, as Mace called it, are not performed by legitimate doctors in South Carolina. It’s nothing but a misleading talking point that can cause harm.

In a statement posted Monday on Twitter, Mace said her opponent in next month’s election, Annie Andrews, “is running from her extreme views on sex change surgeries for minors from March of 2021, but the internet remembers.”

Andrews is the Democrat running for the SC 1st Congressional District seat currently held by Mace, a Republican. Andrews doesn’t support such surgery for children and has said so on her Twitter account.

Let’s shovel through all of Mace’s dishonesty.

Mace is trying to be clever. She’s attempting to make voters believe that “sex change surgeries” on children are a threat in S.C. by making her claim about Andrews, a pediatrician who worked at a hospital until recently. Just in time for Halloween, Mace is decorating South Carolina with mad surgeons holding scalpels in bloody hands ready to mutilate children. This is a bunch of props meant to scare people into voting for her.

If Mace called a couple of South Carolina’s major hospitals, she would realize the fantasy she’s creating.

I asked every major hospital in South Carolina if they perform gender affirming surgery, Mace’s so called “sex change surgeries,” on children.

The Medical University of South Carolina, Prisma Health, Roper St. Francis hospital, Lexington Medical Center, Spartanburg Regional hospital and Bon Secours St. Francis hospital all said they do not perform such surgeries on minors.

McLeod Health did not respond by the time this column was published. But if six of the seven hospitals in South Carolina aren’t doing gender affirming surgeries on minors, it’s highly doubtful the one that didn’t respond is.

But real dangers lurk behind Mace’s rhetoric. Her statements demonize doctors and create a stigma around transgender youth and their care.

In an interview with Fox News, Mace asserted that Andrews’ opposition to a South Carolina bill proves she supports gender affirming surgery for children. It’s another gag worthy moment for Mace.

Yes, the bill she references would ban such surgery, but the ban isn’t necessary because, again, it’s not happening. It would be a waste of time for lawmakers to debate. Unfortunately, the bill also would ban non-surgical, medically accepted treatments for transgender teenagers and youth with gender-related conditions. Those non-surgical treatments are known to be effective at helping those young people with mental health conditions. The bill goes even crazier by criminalizing doctors who provide these non-surgical treatments and would throw doctors in prison for up to 20 years if they prescribed these treatments.

Think the bill can’t get any more insane? It does. The bill would also make it illegal for school nurses to not tell parents about a “minor’s perception that the minor’s gender or sex is inconsistent with the minor’s sex.” If anyone supports making school nurses jobs more confusing, they should be kicked out of office immediately.

Andrews and anyone else with any empathy should oppose the bill. Even Republicans, like Mace, should oppose it because of their focus on putting decisions about children into parents’ hands. The bill would take away a parent’s ability to work with doctors to determine what’s best for their child.

Here’s a Halloween costume idea for Mace. She should get one of those orange trash bags printed with “Danger. Biohazard. Infectious Waste,” cut some holes for her head and arms and put it on. That would fit her perfect. She’s full of medical garbage.