I am not qualified enough to have an opinion about the nuance of minor healthcare, especially when it comes to trans issues, but I AM qualified enough to know that criminalizing (or worse, making it possible to remove the child from a parents care) a parent who is providing what they THINK is healthcare based on advise from the child’s healthcare providers is absolutely horrific. However someone feels about the trans healthcare issue, hopefully they understand that removing the child from the parents is NOT the solution.
Not quoting for specifically this point, but picking up on the general conversation;
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What we're really talking about with medical intervention is puberty blockers and hormone treatments, because the amount of surgical intervention being preformed on minors is extremely small. If these bills were targeted at surgical intervention I think it would be a lot easier to sell to a public who is still largely ignorant of the specifics.
To go even further, hormonal intervention -usually- doesn't begin until ages 14-15, starting with puberty blockers and then eventually transitioning to hormone replacement therapy. So, barring the extremes, these medical treatments are not as impactful as surgical intervention. Extended use of puberty blockers has side effects of course, but as a parent you would have to weight those side effects against what you see as the chronic effects of gender dysphoria.
Imagine you are a parent raising a boy who is clearly undergoing some kind of chronic mental anguish. Something long lasting that has not responded to typical psychological intervention. Eventually on the advise of their PCP and therapist you take them to a gender clinic who tells you all about the miracle outcomes provided by puberty blockers and eventual hormone treatment. These are professionals who are covered by your insurance and referred to you by a family doctor. They may work in hospitals with names you recognize, like the Mayo Clinic, and are in fact experts in their fields.
If they recommend puberty blockers for your 14 year old, even as a trial to determine if the treatment will mitigate their psychological symptoms, why would you have a reason to question their expert advice?
If the puberty blockers DO provide relief for your child, how would you be motivated to STOP the medication?
This issue is much more complicated than provocateurs like Matt Walsh present, it's also more complicated than the mentally unwell posters on ResetERA present. There ARE clinicians who are more motivated by greed than treatment. There ARE children who are provided relief by the treatments. We cannot lose sight of the social contract in our ideological battle.
