States continue to protect children from experimental gender treatments as Biden admin falls behind European nations

Wisconsin became the 24th state to protect children and teens from experimental and life-altering drugs and surgeries for the purpose of so-called “gender transition.”

Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed Senate File 0099 late last week, called the “Children gender change prohibition,” after the measure passed overwhelmingly in the state Senate, 26-5, and the state House, 36-25.

The text of the new law says “no physician or health care provider shall”: 

(i)  Perform a surgery that sterilizes the child, including castration, vasectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, metoidioplasty, orchiectomy, penectomy, phalloplasty and vaginoplasty;

(ii)  Perform a mastectomy;

(iii)  Provide, administer, prescribe or dispense any of the following prescription drugs that induce transient or permanent infertility. 

The law specifically prohibits the prescription and administration of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors, and adds physicians and healthcare providers may not “remove any otherwise healthy or nondiseased body part or tissue.” 

The law enacts penalties – such as the suspension or revocation of licenses – to healthcare providers who deliver the prohibited treatments and surgeries to young people. 

Christian and legal ministry Liberty Counsel provided a summary of the status of similar legislation in other states: 

Similar laws in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Oklahoma have been upheld by federal courts, while laws in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Montana, and Idaho are temporarily blocked as legal challenges are adjudicated. In Arkansas, a federal judge declared in June 2023 that its “Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act” was unconstitutional. However, Arkansas has appealed the ruling, and the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals approved the state’s request for all 11 judges on the Court, rather than a three-judge panel, to hear its appeal.  

Nearly half of U.S. states now share the same serious concerns about child gender transition medicine increasingly voiced by European nations.  

French senators of the center-right Les Republicains party are calling for a prohibition on hormone drugs and surgeries for minors, the Telegraph reported over the weekend. A comprehensive report commissioned by the party concluded that “the sexual transition of young people will be considered as one of the greatest ethical scandals in the history of medicine.” 

Earlier this month, the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) also banned puberty blockers for minors in gender clinics. 

“We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty-suppressing hormones to make the treatment routinely available at this time,” the new guidelines read, reported The Times, noting as well that the government applauded the move. 

“We have always been clear that children’s safety and wellbeing is paramount, so we welcome this landmark decision by the NHS,” said Health Minister Maria Caulfield. “Ending the routine prescription of puberty blockers will help ensure that care is based on evidence, expert clinical opinion and is in the best interests of the child.” 

The NHS announcement came on the heels of leaked internal documents from the global giant of “gender-affirming care,” the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). 

Among the revelations in the materials were discussions among “gender-affirming” medical colleagues in which some admitted children and teens are incapable of fully understanding the long-term effects of hormone drugs and gender transition surgeries, especially with regard to sterility. Still, many of these young people receive the gender treatments anyway. 

The Biden administration, however, shows no signs of stepping back from encouraging young people to get these life-altering treatments, denouncing states that have legislated to protect children from them. 

Less than two weeks ago, Biden used the opportunity of the suicide of Nex Benedict, a teen said to be “nonbinary,” to say on X: “we must all recommit to our work to end discrimination and address the suicide crisis impacting too many nonbinary and transgender children.”  

Biden’s transgender Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel (born Richard) Levine has often used what has become known as the “transition or die” narrative to support “gender-affirming care” for minors.  

In February 2023, Levine applauded the work of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center’s (CCMC) gender clinics, asserting those who provide such care for children and teens “have been targeted for discrimination, harassment and abuse.” 

“I think that these attacks are ideologically and politically motivated,” Levine claimed during Pediatric Grand Rounds. “I think they’re being done primarily for political purposes throughout the country. And I think that we need to stand up to these attacks and to provide the expert care … that we know through standard of care evidence-based treatment.” 

Levine also blamed parents for the suicidal ideation of their gender-confused children, claiming such despairing thoughts occur at home because, unlike at school, children feel they must hide their true “identities” from their parents. 

The top-level HHS official also promised gender clinic staff at CCMC that they have the support of the “highest levels of the federal government,” including Joe Biden, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, and the Department of Justice. 

Meanwhile, a new study has found the opposite, that Gender dysphoria in young people is not predictive of suicide when other mental health issues are accounted for.