South-Carolina
Lawsuit challenges South Carolina's transgender health care legislation
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – A legal challenge now faces a controversial new law in South Carolina.
H.4624, also known as the “Help Not Harm Act,” has already had significant impacts on gender-affirming care since Gov. Henry McMaster signed it into law in late May.
Now a group of transgender South Carolinians are suing to stop them from continuing.
“It’s definitely something that has just been this looming cloud, if you will, over the last three months,” said M. Greg Green, a transgender man who lives in the Midlands.
The lawsuit was filed late Thursday in federal court in Charleston by three transgender South Carolina adults and two families of transgender teens.
In it, they argue the state law “has had and will continue to have devastating consequences for transgender individuals and their families in South Carolina” and claim it violates various federal laws.
Green isn’t among the plaintiffs and said he has not been impacted yet by the law but expects that could happen.
“Now having to figure out how am I going to maintain the medically necessary things that I need is very scary,” Green said.
Green is not alone in those fears.
![For several years, nearly $2 billion in South Carolina taxpayer money has sat, untouched, in...](https://gray-wrdw-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/5LZDPYZHNZBQZOGAKS7WTTNIZU.png?auth=6ff528cc8624e948f8e20b64dd85d8cdf049354f766150d1021e5fcfc5e95632&width=1280&height=720&smart=true)
“I’m a transgender man myself, and I haven’t lost care, but I wake up every morning, worried about it,” Jace Woodrum, executive director of the ACLU of South Carolina, said.
The ACLU’s attorney are representing the plaintiffs, who are asking the court to block three key provisions in the law: a ban on minors from undergoing gender-transition procedures, including surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy; a prohibition on Medicaid from covering these procedures for anyone, minors and adults; and a ban on state dollars directly or indirectly going toward these procedures.
Because of the latter, the state-funded Medical University of South Carolina announced earlier this summer it would no longer provide gender-affirming care to patients of all ages.
While most of the law went into effect with the governor’s signature in May, the ban on gender-transition procedures for minors is not scheduled to take effect until next January.
In total, the ACLU estimates around 800 transgender South Carolinians have lost or will lose access to care.
![(Source: MGN)](https://gray-wrdw-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/YBJ7I3675NAXPBTVOIH2IM4XHI.jpg?auth=ac5b2e0b1b694eba70e2f6ea56848f0c33ee36214297cc55857307254782573b&width=1280&height=720&smart=true)
“On the one hand, 800 people is not insignificant,” Woodrum said. “On the other hand, we have a fairly small population that lawmakers are picking on with this mean-spirited, unconstitutional, political attack.”
MUSC is among the defendants named in the lawsuit, as is Attorney General Alan Wilson.
The Attorney General’s Office said it does not comment on pending litigation but “will vigorously defend the state’s laws.”
McMaster defended the law he signed this year in a statement, saying he “will continue to support our State’s efforts to fight back against those who wish to force harmful gender transition procedures on our children.”
Earlier this year, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit — which includes South Carolina — found bans on government-sponsored insurance from covering transgender healthcare procedures in North Carolina and West Virginia were illegal.
The new South Carolina law also requires certain school staff notify parents about information concerning their child’s gender identity, like if they ask to use a pronoun that does not align with their sex.
But those school-related provisions are not being challenged in this lawsuit.
Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
South-Carolina
South Carolina Supreme Court ruling lists order six death row inmates will be executed
![South Carolina Supreme Court ruling lists order six death row inmates will be executed South Carolina Supreme Court ruling lists order six death row inmates will be executed](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/071ef3a5c6b32ba3e9ce60b262250caf57e15eee/c=0-690-3156-2465/local/-/media/Greenville/2014/12/12/B9315415566Z.1_20141212143714_000_GLS9BO80H.1-0.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Three Upstate men on South Carolina’s death row now know the order in which the state will put them to death.
The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Friday on a petition filed by the men and three others requesting there be at least a 13-week interval between executions. The court responded by setting at least a 35-day minimum between executions.
The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office replied to the inmate’s petition stating there should be “no more than 28 days between executions.” Their reasoning being that a 13-week interval would mean “only two executions could be completed this year” and that “it would take all next year to complete the remaining four.”
A Columbia-based nonprofit advocacy group for inmates, Justice 360, led the inmates in signing the petition. The group declined to comment about the Supreme Court’s decision.
South Carolina last carried out an execution in 2011. Jeffery Brian Motts, 36, of Greenville died via lethal injection.
Here’s the list of inmates expected to be executed in the coming months, all have exhausted their appeals beginning with Freddie Eugene Owens, of Greenville, whose execution has been set for Sept. 20.
More: Greenville deputies suspect a man shot his mother and grandmother before killing himself
Freddie Eugene Owens
On Aug. 23, the South Carolina Department of Corrections gave Owens, 46, notice that he would be executed on Sept. 20.
In 1999, Ownes was convicted of murder in the 1997 Halloween murder of Irene Graves, 41, at a Speedway convenience store. He was sentenced to death.
Owens was originally scheduled to be put to death on June 25, 2021, but he and other death row inmates listed filed a lawsuit that halted the execution.
Owens will have until Sept. 6 to decide his choice of execution.
Richard Benard Moore
Richard Moore, 59, of Spartanburg, was convicted of killing a convenience store clerk in 1999.
Moore received the death penalty on Oct. 22, 2001, after a jury found him guilty of murder for shooting 42-year-old James Mahoney on Sept. 16, 1999, at Nikki’s Speedy Mart in Spartanburg’s Whitney Community.
He was set to be executed in April 2022, but it was also halted because of the lawsuit.
Marion Bowman Jr.
On May 24, 2002, Marion Bowman, 44, was convicted of the murder of KanDee Louise Martin, 21, of Orangeburg.
Bowman was sentenced to death a year later on May 23, 2003.
According to South Carolina Supreme Court documents, Bowman shot and killed Martin on Feb. 17, 2001, then set a car on fire with Martin’s body inside to hide the evidence.
Brad Sigmon
In 2001, Brad Sigmon, 66, of Greenville, was convicted of killing his girlfriend’s parents, David and Gladys Larke. He was placed on death row in July 2002.
He was also sentenced to 30 years in prison for burglary.
Sigmon’s death order was given in April 2022, and execution was set for May 13, 2022, but it was stayed.
Steven Bixby
A Chesterfield County jury gave Steven Bixby, 57, the death sentence in 2007 for the murder of a sheriff deputy and state constable.
In December 2003, Bixby along with his parents, Rita Leona Bixby and Arthur Walls Bixby, shot and killed Abbeville County Sheriff Deputy Danny Wilson and State Constable Donnie Outz.
The shooting occurred after the Bixby family had a dispute with the South Carolina Department of Transportation over the widening of Highway 72. They were upset that a part of their property was to be used for the widening.
Both parents died while in prison.
More: Netflix-star, Greenville-native Rob ‘The Rabbit’ Pitts dies; memorial service details
Mikal Mahdi
Mikal Mahdi, 41, was a resident of Virginia when he went on an East Coast crime spree that ended when he killed a South Carolina deputy.
In 2006, Mahdi pled guilty to the murder and robbery of a North Carolina store clerk and Orangeburg County Sheriff’s captain. He was sentenced to death the same year.
Mahdi started his murder spree on July 15, 2004, when he used a stolen vehicle to travel to Winston-Salem. According to court documents, Mahdi shot and killed a convenience store clerk. Three days later, OCSO Capt. James Myers discovered Mahdi hiding in a shed on his property. Mahdi shot Myers using a gun he found on the property.
Mahdi was eventually caught by law enforcement in Florida.
South-Carolina
Unemployment claims in South Carolina declined last week
![Unemployment claims in South Carolina declined last week Unemployment claims in South Carolina declined last week](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/84782def0a8168006e51cc1bbaed01bd1f204c58/c=0-38-724-445/local/-/media/2021/06/29/Newport/gda-unemployment-2021-06-24-img.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Initial filings for unemployment benefits in South Carolina dropped last week compared with the week prior, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.
New jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 2,005 in the week ending August 24, down from 2,590 the week before, the Labor Department said.
U.S. unemployment claims dropped to 231,000 last week, down 2,000 claims from 233,000 the week prior on a seasonally adjusted basis.
North Dakota saw the largest percentage increase in weekly claims, with claims jumping by 313.7%. New Hampshire, meanwhile, saw the largest percentage drop in new claims, with claims dropping by 24%.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s weekly unemployment insurance claims report.
South-Carolina
Guest Column: South Carolina Housing Market Needs More Building, Less Regulation – FITSNews
![Guest Column: South Carolina Housing Market Needs More Building, Less Regulation – FITSNews Guest Column: South Carolina Housing Market Needs More Building, Less Regulation – FITSNews](https://www.fitsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/gettyimages-1925865357-1024x640.jpg)
Less regulation? Have you seen some of the shoddy workmanship that goes into most new homes? Have you seen the overloaded roads that can’t keep up with construction as it is today? Oh yeah, the only regulation this site entertains is making sure poors don’t get mixed in with middle class homes.
This blog has its finger on a construction company CEO’s massage chair and swears it is SC’s pulse rate.
-
Connecticut1 week ago
Oxford church provides sanctuary during Sunday's damaging storm
-
Technology1 week ago
Breakthrough robo-glove gives you superhuman grip
-
Politics1 week ago
Clinton lauds Biden as modern-day George Washington and president who 'healed our sick' in DNC speech
-
Politics1 week ago
2024 showdown: What happens next in the Kamala Harris-Donald Trump face-off
-
News1 week ago
Who Are Kamala Harris’s 1.5 Million New Donors?
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump taunted over speculated RFK Jr endorsement: 'Weird as hell'
-
Politics1 week ago
Vivek Ramaswamy sounds off on potential RFK Jr. role in a Trump administration
-
World5 days ago
Portugal coast hit by 5.3 magnitude earthquake