On Friday, June 28, the Biden Administration announced that it does not support so-called “gender affirming” surgeries for minors. This is quite a surprising development, given that the administration (especially Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel (Richard) Levine) has been arguing for years that surgeons should be able to operate on healthy children and remove healthy organs. It has consistently argued that it would be immoral to prevent young people from accessing this supposed “care” and manipulated society into believing that if young people cannot have their healthy body parts removed, they will kill themselves. This move comes after it was revealed that Levine pressured the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to eliminate all age limits in its guidelines regarding the administration of all forms of “gender affirming care” for minors.
The U.S. chapter of Women’s Declaration International (WDI USA) welcomes this development, which is consistent with Article IX of the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based Rights concerning the rights of children. However, removing support for this most heinous manifestation of gender identity ideology does not go far enough to protect children, and it may be an empty gesture in any event.
It is WDI USA’s position that not only surgeries, but also puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones, should be completely banned for minors. These drugs are known to cause permanent medical problems including loss of sexual function, sterility, disease, and premature death. It is especially unconscionable to give these drugs to children, who lack the capacity to consent to their long-term impacts. We explained our position that the provision of puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones in minors violates international human rights norms in our amicus brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in the matter of L.W. v. Skrmetti.
Moreover, the Biden Administration’s recent announcement may be nothing more than an empty shell. As of this writing, the website of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health (OASH – Levine’s office) contains a page titled “Adolescent Health”, which includes a document titled “Gender-Affirming Care and Young People.” This document states:
Gender-affirming care is a supportive form of healthcare. It consists of an array of services that may include medical, surgical, mental health, and non-medical services for transgender and nonbinary people. [emphasis added]
For transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents, early gender-affirming care is crucial to overall health and well-being as it allows the child or adolescent to focus on social transitions and can increase their confidence while navigating the healthcare system. [emphasis added]
The document also contains a table listing the various forms of “care,” with the column headings “Affirming Care,” “What is it?” “When is it used?” and “Reversible or not.” The last listed category of “care” is “Gender-Affirming Surgeries.” Under “What is it?” the document states:
“Top” surgery – to create male-typical chest shape or enhance breasts
“Bottom” surgery – surgery on genitals or reproductive organs
Facial feminization or other procedures
By “male-typical chest shape,” it means a double mastectomy.
Under “When is it used?” the document states that such surgeries are “Typically used in adulthood or case-by-case in adolescence.” It acknowledges that the surgeries are not reversible.
The ongoing promotion of this document leads us to conclude that the administration will take no action to actually protect children from these surgeries that are known to cause irreversible harm. In addition,we are disappointed (but not surprised) that the administration still supports the provision of drugs that permanently alter children’s healthy bodies.
The group Do No Harm has created a petition calling for the ouster of Assistant Secretary Levine. It states:
Rachel Levine has deliberately endangered America’s children—putting politics ahead of children’s health.
That’s the conclusion of newly unsealed court documents. They show that as one of President Biden’s top health officials, Levine pressured an international organization [WPATH] to drop age restrictions for transgender medical treatments. The group opened the door to invasive, irreversible, and harmful surgeries and drugs for the youngest children.
We agree with this petition and urge Declaration signatories to sign it.
