Hutchinson: Government Should Not ‘Interfere with Parental Decisions’ on Hormones for Trans Children

Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday”  that the government should not interfere with parents’ decisions on hormone treatments for transgender children

Anchor Shannon Bream said, “Let’s talk about another hot-button issue, transitions for patients and people under the age of 18. People have argued that your position is not truly conservative. You vetoed a bill that would have prohibited hormone treatment or puberty blockers for people under the age of 18.”

Hutchinson said, “What is conservative about this is you debate and think about the role of government when it should step in. I would have signed a bill very quickly if it had been just prohibiting transition surgeries for minors, absolutely. But you have to debate it a little more when you are interfering with the health care decisions that a parent makes. We don’t want the government to tell parents when they can have vaccines for children or have to have vaccines. We fight for the role of parents. These are good debates that conservatives have. There are bills that I would sign. There are bills that go too far. When there was not a grandfather clause in that I vetoed it, but there has been other good bills in other states that accomplish those objectives. You’re always debating is this the right role of government to interfere with parental decisions. I came down in a limited fashion and said that parents have an important role to play here.”

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