The U.S. is an “outlier” among Western nations in providing body-altering drugs and surgery to children who identify as transgender, as concern grows in the scientific community about the results of such treatments.
Described by many Democratic politicians as “gender-affirming care” for “trans kids,” puberty-blocking drugs and sex reassignment surgeries at a young age may not reduce psychological distress, and may have long-term and irreversible consequences that children cannot factor into their decision-making at a young age.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday:
The U.S. is becoming an outlier among many Western nations in the way its national medical institutions treat children suffering from distress over gender identity.
For years, the American healthcare industry has staunchly defended medical interventions for transgender minors, including puberty blockers, which suppress the physical changes of adolescence as a treatment for those distressed over their gender.
The European medical community, by contrast, is expressing doubts about that approach. Having allowed these treatments for years, five countries—the U.K., Sweden, Finland, Norway and France—now urge caution in their use for minors, stressing a lack of evidence that the benefits outweigh the risks. This month, the U.K.’s publicly funded National Health Service limited the use of puberty blockersto clinical trials, putting the drugs beyond the reach of most children.
The White House, among others, has attacked Republican efforts to restrict drugs and surgery for “trans kids.” California and New York have both become “sanctuary states” for children traveling to seek such treatments.
President Joe Biden said earlier this month, in the presence of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak:
[W]e have some hysterical and, I would argue, prejudiced people who are engaged in all of what you see going on around the country. It’s — it’s an appeal to fear, and it’s an appeal that is totally, thoroughly unjustified and ugly.
It’s wrong for — that a person can be married in the morning in the United States and fired in the afternoon by their employer because they are — they’re gay.
It’s wrong that the violence and hate crimes targeting LGBTQ people is rising. It’s wrong that extreme officials are pushing hateful bills targeting transgender children, terrifying families, and criminalizing doctors.
Just a few days later, the UK restricted transgender treatments for children — a fact the White House struggled to explain.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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