Rep. Mace introduces bills to bar transgender women from restrooms, shelters and prisons

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Nancy Mace

FILE – Rep. Nancy Mace, walks to join other members of the House Oversight Committee, Dec. 13, 2023, at the Capitol in Washington. Three Republican incumbent U.S. House members in South Carolina are facing primary challengers in 2024, including Mace, who is seeking a third term with the backing of Donald Trump. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

 

 

(WCIV) — Republican Rep. Nancy Mace introduced a trifecta of bills aimed at transgender people’s use of public restrooms and their presence in prisons.

The three pieces of legislation reintroduced by Mace (S.C.-01) – the Protecting Women’s Private Spaces Act, the Stop the Invasion of Women’s Spaces Act, and the Prison Rape Prevention Act – bar transgender women from using women’s restrooms, locker rooms, shelters, and prisons.

“Like President Trump, we believe in protecting women—not erasing them,” Mace said. “The left’s unhinged, sexist tantrums won’t stop us from standing up for women’s privacy, safety, and dignity. They want to let biological men invade women’s restrooms, locker rooms, prisons, and shelters. We won’t let it happen. We’re not backing down. We’re holding the line.”

Mace’s slew of legislation comes after she was present for President Donald Trump’s signing of the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order Wednesday, which banned transgender athletes from participating in girls and women’s sports.

“For too long, the Left has sacrificed women’s rights on the altar of woke politics,” Mace said. “Women’s sports exist for a reason—because biological differences matter.

“No amount of activism, corporate pressure, or lies can erase reality—men are biologically different from women. This executive order restores fairness, upholds Title IX’s original intent, and defends the rights of female athletes who have worked their whole lives to compete at the highest levels.”

 

The timing of the order coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day and is the latest in a string of executive actions from the Republican president aimed at transgender people.

As for Mace’s bills, the Stop the Invasion of Women’s Spaces Act, if signed into law, would block transgender women from using women’s restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms in all federally funded facilities.

The Protecting Women’s Private Spaces Act bars transgender women from using women’s restrooms, locker rooms, and other private, protected facilities on all federal property, including government buildings, national parks, and military installations.

And the Prison Rape Prevention Act would ban transgender women from being housed in women’s correctional facilities and stops funding for gender-affirming medical care for incarcerated people.

In the Palmetto State, the South Carolina Department of Corrections policy provides that incarcerated people will receive “medically necessary care throughout their incarceration in keeping with generally accepted medical standards of the community.”

The SCDC pays for medically necessary care, with an exception for only one diagnosis – gender dysphoria.

Mace’s legislation marks the Republican’s continued attempts to target transgender people.

Already, the Trump administration sought to have the federal government reject the idea that people can transition to a gender other than the one assigned at birth. That has implications for areas including passports and prisons.

He’s also opened the door to barring transgender service members from the military; called to end federal health insurance and other funding for gender-affirming care for transgender people under age 19; and restricted the way lessons on gender can be taught in schools.

In Mace’s crusade against transgender people, the legislation comes following her doubling down on using an anti-transgender term during a House hearing Wednesday after a Democratic congressman pointed out it was a slur.

“USAID awarded $2 million to strengthen trans-led organizations to deliver gender-affirming healthcare in Guatemala,” she said during a Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing. “Does this advance the interest of American citizens paying for (slur) in Guatemala to the tune of $2 million?”

When chastised by her Democrat colleague about using a slur, Mace said, “I don’t really care. You want penises in women’s bathrooms and I’m not going to have it.”

Mace, in the past, has also crafted resolutions directly addressing Democrat Rep. Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender person to be elected to Congress.

The three-term representative has also frequently advocated and posted on social media for restricting transgender women from using women’s spaces.

In the past, Mace has described herself as “pro-transgender rights” in a 2023 interview.

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