The North Carolina legislature overrode vetoes from Governor Roy Cooper to pass three family-friendly laws: House Bill 808 – Prohibiting “Gender Transition” of Minors; Senate Bill – 49, Parents’ Bill of Rights; and House Bill 574 – Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.
The North Carolina Family Policy Council (NC Family) celebrated the victories, saying the legislation “will significantly help children grow up in a healthy and safe environment.”
“Overriding the vetoes of these three bills is a huge step in continuing to make North Carolina a place where families can thrive,” the group added.
NC Family is a Focus on the Family ally “dedicated to the preservation of the family and traditional family values.” The organization explained the legislation protecting minors from transgender medical interventions:
- First, it will prevent minors from receiving gender transition procedures including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender-transition surgeries.
- Second, it will provide broad conscience protections for healthcare practitioners who do not wish to participate in these experimental procedures.
- Finally, it will prevent state taxpayer dollars from paying for any transgender procedures.
NC Family noted that these drugs, hormones and surgeries “cause a host of medical problems.” The group pointed to Prisha Mosley, a North Carolina resident who began testosterone injections when she was only 17. She filed a lawsuit alleging that counselors and doctors committed fraud and medical malpractice when they encouraged her to transition, prescribed testosterone and removed her breasts.
North Carolina is the 20th state to pass “Help Not Harm” legislation, protecting vulnerable adolescent and teen girls like Mosley from damaging experimental procedures which stop normal development and cause physical and emotional injuries.
The second new law, the Parents’ Bill of Rights, helps to “clarify and codify parental rights as they relate to their child’s healthcare and education,” NC Family explained. The new law specifies that parents have the right:
- To direct the education and care of their children.
- To direct the upbringing and moral or religious training of their child.
- To enroll children in the school of their choice.
- To access and review their children’s education records.
- To make health care decisions for their children.
- To access and review their children’s medical records.
NC Family supported the legislation, which also “encourages parental involvement in schools, keeps K-4 curriculum free of sex ed and gender ideology, and informs parents if their child requests to be referred to by a different name or pronouns at school.”
The third law where the legislature overturned the governor’s veto is the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, preserving middle school, high school and collegiate girls and women’s sports for biological females. The measure states:
- Athletic teams designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex.
- A student’s sex shall be recognized based solely on the student’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
The act allows any student deprived of an athletic opportunity to bring a cause of action against a school within two years of the date on which the harm occurred. They may sue for injunctive relief, as well as “actual damages, including for psychological, emotional, or physical harm, reasonable attorney fees, and costs.”
North Carolina is now the 23rd state to pass a bill protecting girls and women’s sports in education.
NC Family thanked those who helped pass these laws, saying:
We are so grateful to all of the legislators who championed these bills in the legislature, to our allies at organizations like the NC Values Coalition and Christian Action League of NC who worked incredibly hard on these bills, and to everyone across the state who made the effort to reach out to and encourage their lawmakers to support these incredibly important measures.
The passage of pro-family legislation demonstrates the importance of Christians engaging in culture and policy issues, voting according to biblical values, and being actively involved in the legislative process.
Related articles and resources:
Focus on the Family: Transgender Resources
Four Brave Young Women File Lawsuits Alleging Harm from ‘Transgender’ Interventions
North Carolina Family Policy Council
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