The National Institutes of Health states that “the evidence is limited” on the short- and long-term health risks of puberty blockers, especially for concerns about fertility and cognitive development.
The U.K.’s National Health Services has put forward a new care model for children based on evidence that “in most cases gender incongruence does not persist into adolescence” and “may be a transient phase.” Various studies indicate more than 80% of children who experience gender dysphoria could desist without intervention.
The Indiana Family Institute praised the state legislation, calling it the “Help, Not Harm Bill.”
“Rather than helping to heal the minds of young people struggling with gender confusion, medical activists in Indiana are destroying their bodies. This bill would protect minors from these gruesome and dangerous practices and help parents who are bullied into consenting,” the institute said March 29.
The drugs and procedures are presently available through multiple Indiana providers including Planned Parenthood, Riley Children’s Hospital, and two other major hospitals.
“They bully parents into consenting by falsely claiming that their children will commit suicide if these harmful and expensive procedures are refused,” the Indiana Family Institute said.
“Gender-affirming care” has major backers, however. Foes of the Indiana bill included the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The Human Rights Campaign, an influential LGBT lobby group, says on its website that puberty blockers are “safe” and “fully reversible.” They contend they are “life-saving” due to increased well-being and decreased depression, with some studies indicating a 70% reduction in the risk of suicide.
The organization contends that “gender-affirming” cross-hormones are “typically not proscribed” until a person is 18. It said “top surgeries” to change the chest are performed “in very rare exceptions” for “16- or 17-year-olds who have been consistent and persistent in their gender identity for years, have been taking gender-affirming hormones for some time, and who have approvals from both their parents and doctors.”
Some prominent objections to “gender-affirming care” have come from older teens and adults who say they were wrongly put through gender transition. Chloe Cole, a California teenager, told CNA she was first exposed to gender ideology through social media at the age of 11. She soon started to identify as transgender. At age 13 she was put on puberty blockers and prescribed testosterone. She underwent “top surgery,” a double mastectomy, at age 15. At age 16, she realized she had made a mistake and started a long period of grief.
On April 5 the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit challenging the new state ban.
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“Gender-affirming care is life-saving care for our clients, and they’re terrified of what will happen if this law is allowed to take effect,” said Ken Falk, ACLU of Indiana legal director. “No child should be cut off from the medical care they need or denied their fundamental right to be themselves — but this law would do both.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho is seeking plaintiffs to challenge the new law there.
Besides Indiana and Idaho, at least 11 states have banned the drug treatments and surgeries on minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota, and West Virginia. However, federal judges have blocked enforcement of the laws in Alabama and Arkansas, the Associated Press reported.
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