Florida’s top health official told Tucker Carlson his state is opposed to federal gender affirmation guidance for adolescents.
The Sunshine State’s Surgeon General, Doctor Joseph Ladapo, Friday told the Fox News host his state will not follow those guidelines.
White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, said during an April 18 press conference that states passing bills restricting transgender treatments have been put on notice by the feds. She noted the Department of Justice and Health and Human Services consider laws and policies preventing care that healthcare professionals recommend for transgender minors may violate the Constitution and federal law.
“To be clear, every major medical association agrees that gender-affirming healthcare for transgender kids is a best practice and potentially lifesaving,” Psaki said.
Psaki’s remarks were aimed at Alabama, which passed legislation blocking gender reassignment surgery for children. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union are lining up to sue Alabama.
“We’re rejecting the guidelines because we think they’re harmful to kids,” Dr. Ladapo informed Carlson.
Florida’s surgeon general explained these are not trivial procedures. In fact, he considers them major, life-changing interventions.
“Are there data supporting the idea it is ever medically necessary on the basis of emotional reasons to remove the breasts of — say — a 13-year-old girl?” Carlson asked Ladapo.
The doctor responded by prefacing his reply that it is a complicated subject before noting multiple studies that support arguments against such treatments.
“When adolescents express an interest in being another gender, feeling they are not in the right body,” he said, “eight out of ten of these children will essentially stop feeling that way later in adolescence, or in young adulthood.”
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The best response may not be surgically altering confused children who may regret such definitive acts later in life.
“The right answer is to not be subjecting children to therapies like puberty blockers — that we don’t fully understand the implications of — or surgeries that are irreversible,” Ladapo argued. He added that it is hard to arrive at any other conclusion after weighing scientific evidence.
“Yeah,” responded Carlson. “I mean — sterilizing children? — that’s a big step.”
“So, maybe we should pause.”
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