Scott Colom Says He Was 'Never For' Surgery on Kids. He Signed a Pledge Calling Mississippi-Style Bans Unconstitutional.

As Colom challenges Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, voters hear him oppose surgery on children while rejecting criminal prosecution of doctors who perform it.

Breitbart identifies Scott Colom as a Mississippi Democratic Senate candidate who opposes surgery on children but says he would not criminally prosecute a doctor who performs it¹. On Oct. 16, 2026, Breitbart News reporter Matt Mercer posted video of Colom and wrote that he “becomes increasingly agitated when asked to explain why he doesn't believe doctors who perform gender mutilation surgeries for minors should be held criminally liable.”²

In the undercover video Breitbart obtained, Colom says: “I don’t think it should be legal, but I don’t think it should be criminal.”¹ What is a ban worth when the man who could enforce it has announced he won't?

“I don’t think it should be legal, but I don’t think it should be criminal.”

Scott Colom

Colom is a local prosecutor, and in 2021 he put his name to the same conclusion¹. Breitbart reports he is one of more than 75 signatories to a June 2021 Fair and Just Prosecution letter, whose signers pledged: “we pledge to use our discretion and not promote the criminalization of gender-affirming healthcare or transgender people.” The letter goes further, saying “we do not support the use of scarce criminal justice and law enforcement resources on criminalization of doctors who offer medically necessary, safe gender-affirming care to trans youth.”³

Asked on camera about the letter, Colom said: “I didn’t write the letter… I don’t remember all parts of it because it was a long time ago.” His memory of the letter is hazy. His position matches it. Breitbart reports that Colom said he would not prosecute a doctor over procedures agreed to by a parent and child, then quotes him: “I stand behind my position that it’s not a criminal issue because we can’t criminalize social issues.”¹ Cutting a child's body is no social issue, and a parent who never agreed to it is nowhere in that sentence.

Mississippi’s House passed the REAP Act. The vote was 78-29. The Senate passed it 33-15. Gov. Tate Reeves signed it on Feb. 28, 2023, saying it “puts a stop to this in Mississippi and protects our kids.” The law directs the state's attorney general to enforce it: “the Attorney General shall bring an action to enforce compliance.”⁴

Colom is now challenging Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the November election. Breitbart reports she blocked his nomination to a federal judgeship under President Joe Biden, and that WJTV said she cited concerns about large contributions from organizations connected to George Soros¹. Mississippi parents get to choose between a senator who defends their law and a nominee who signed a pledge against enforcing laws like it.

The pledge's authors make their best case in their own words: they call such bills “blatantly unconstitutional attacks” that “will deeply harm public safety.” They add that a 2020 national survey found “over half of trans and non-binary youth seriously considered suicide,” and that care reduces the risk³.

The constitutional premise has not held up. The Supreme Court record says Tennessee’s law “satisfies rational-basis review under the Equal Protection Clause.” KFF's tracker counts 27 states with limits on minors' access, and 25 of those restrictions remained in effect after Skrmetti⁵.

Colom's own words undercut the letter's rationale too. If the care is safe and necessary, why is he against it? If it is not, why did he sign?

Colom told the reporter, “It’s fine that it’s civilly, you can’t do it. Doctors cannot do it. I don’t think this is a criminal situation.” He told the reporter that anyone who wants a doctor prosecuted can “Run for DA,” and that is the whole of his answer to Mississippi families¹. Parents hold the first claim on their children's care, and a doctor who would operate on a child without their consent deserves to fear the law, not to be told the law was never meant for him.

Mississippi voters, parents and lawmakers should put four questions to Scott Colom before Nov. 3. Do you still stand by the 2021 Fair and Just Prosecution pledge you signed, yes or no? Do you support Mississippi's H.B. 1125 as Gov. Reeves signed it, yes or no? Should a parent's agreement, or a child's, make surgery on a minor acceptable, yes or no? Would you prosecute a doctor who performs it, yes or no?

Scott Colom Says He Was 'Never For' Surgery on Kids. He Signed a Pledge Calling Mississippi-Style Bans Unconstitutional.

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