The United States is the "most permissive country" in terms of offering sex change operations and gender "transition" drug treatments to children, compared to any other European nation. According to a study by Do No Harm:
Extreme gender ideology drives the UnitedStates to provide transgender medical care to younger children, while Europe goes a safer and more scientifc route.
Do No Harm Reassigned Report by Verónica Silveri on Scribd
The research - which compared the laws of different European countries' with those of the United States - found that the U.S. pushes a more "medically harmful" model of care where there is increased access to irreversible "gender-affirming" procedures and treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone regiments and sex change surgeries in minors.
In contrast, the European approach is "based on medical science and common sense." Only France comes close to the level of "American permissiveness" but with the difference that "French medical authorities recognize the uncertainties in transgender medical care for children and call for 'great caution' in its use."
Gender transition doubles
The study revealed that "between 2017 and 2021, the number of children taking puberty blockers or hormones more than doubled." Part of the increase in the identification of "transgender" children could be explained by a "social contagion," or in other words, the fashion created by the extremist gender ideology:
The increase in adolescent interventions is not due to a genuine increase in the incidence of gender incongruence, but to the spread of gender ideology in all facets of American life. This concern is exacerbated by the degree to which the medical establishment allows such ideology to compete with or even usurp the scientific method as a guide to medical research and practice.
Endocrinologist William Malone commented to Fox News that the country is "dealing with what could be the biggest medical and ethical scandal of modern times."
Transgender medicine is big business, and young people who are transitioning today will be medical patients for life, for the next 60 years or more. Mental health among young people is at an all-time low, making them particularly vulnerable to solutions that suggest an 'easy fix'.
Treatment of minors without parental consent
The American Academy of Pediatrics has been advocating an "early affirmation" policy since 2018. That is, rushing to provide gender affirming care to children rather than testing or therapy to prevent possible gender dysphoria.
This medical standard is followed in most states in the country, and although parental consent is recommended for "transitions," the ages at which physicians are willing to allow treatment, can be as young as eight years old. In Oregon, a 15-year-old may begin transitioning without parental consent:
While the U.S. is quick to provide gender-affirming care, European countries request months-long psychotherapy sessions to address co-occurring mental health problems.
Do No Harm's president, Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, commented that "more than 90% of children who go through gender dysphoria, grow up and become comfortable with their natal identity as they become adults."
Europe offers therapies
Most European countries do not allow their citizens to start the transition process until the age of 18, or 16, with parental consent. Some countries have already taken action against the "gender affirming" model:
-The UK has announced the closure of its only gender affirmation clinic for children for being "unsafe." Also, the National Health Service in England (NHS), warned that changing names, pronouns and wearing clothing associated with the opposite sex may have "significant effects" on the "psychological functioning" of minors.
- Sweden and Finland have "explicitly abandoned" the "affirmation" model in minors due to evidence pointing to the persistence of gender dysphoria in adulthood.
- The French National Academy of Medicine is against such medical interventions for minors and points to "epidemic-like" increases in cases of gender dysphoria among children.
"We have jumped to hormones and surgery without going through the most obvious alternative: therapy. We need to step back and study these types of interventions before we can determine the best way forward. This is just what Sweden, Finland and England have done, and we hope that the United States will do the same," Malone concluded.
