Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include a statement from the Nikki Haley campaign.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said in an interview that she believes the law should “stay away” from irreversible, experimental, so-called “gender-affirming” child care and that parents “should be on it.”
This week, a clip of her remarks from an interview with CBS Mornings began circulating on X, formerly known as Twitter. In the video, Tony Dokoupil asked Haley, “How careful should you be when a 12-year-old child in this country who was assigned a girl at birth says, ‘I actually feel more comfortable living as a boy?’ And “what should be the law’s response?”
“I think the law shouldn’t get involved and the parents should handle it,” Haley replied.
Nikki Haley was just asked on CBS what should be done if a 12-year-old decides she wants a gender reassignment, and she replied that the law shouldn’t interfere with it to let parents deal with it. This is 1000% disqualifying. The law must intervene when a parent abuses a child. pic.twitter.com/Pn9qL7PnOA
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) December 5, 2023
According to Christian Postthe clip was originally aired by the DeSantis War Room in a commercial titled “Meet the real Nikki Haley”
The interview took place in June and was posted on the CBS Mornings Facebook page.
Throughout the interview, Haley added, “It’s something parents have to deal with. And then if that child turns 18 and wants to make a more permanent change, they can do so. But I think until then, as we see, our teenage children go through a lot during puberty. They go through a lot of confusion. They experience a lot of anxiety. They go through a lot of pressure. We should support them all the time, but we don’t have to step in and impose something in schools. We don’t need schools to sit there and hide from parents what gender pronoun they use. We don’t need to have these conversations in schools. These are conversations that need to be had at home.”
Many LGBTQ+ advocates insist on allowing harmful, experimental, and irreversible care for transgender children. Townhall told how Chloe Cole, a “displaced person”, had a double mastectomy as a minor and regretted it. Earlier this year, Ohio State Sen. J.D. Vance, a Republican, introduced legislation to ban the kinds of experimental, irreversible treatments and surgeries on minors that Townhall was pursuing.
“Under no circumstances should doctors be allowed to perform these gruesome, irreversible surgeries on minor children. With this legislation, we have a chance to save countless young Americans from a lifetime of suffering and regret,” Vance told The Daily Caller, which first reported on the legislation.
Update:
On Wednesday, representatives from the Haley campaign sent the following statement to Townhall from Nachama Soloveichik, Haley’s communications director:
“With his poll numbers plummeting and his campaign collapsing, Ron DeSantis is desperately throwing lies at the wall, hoping something will stick. Spoiler alert: that won’t happen. Nikki Haley has long opposed gender reassignment surgery for minors. Bald – lies won’t save DeSantis.”
