education
Texas Governor seeks investigations of doctors who enable gender transition surgeries for children
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, a Republican, has ordered the Texas Department of Family and Protective services (DFPS) to investigate the children and doctors who enable and approve gender-transition surgeries for children.
Abbott’s measure comes after DFPS confirmed that gender-transition surgery on children constitutes as child abuse, after Abbot had asked the department to look into, and make a determination on the matter last August.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also said earlier this week that gender-transition procedures, including hormone therapy, puberty blockers and sex reassignment procedures, are abuse under existing Texas law.
On Tuesday, Abbott wrote in a letter to DFPS directing it to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas.”
The governor’s letter states that the attorney general’s opinion “makes clear, it is already against the law to subject Texas children to a wide variety of elective procedures for gender transitioning, including reassignment surgeries that can cause sterilization, mastectomies, removals of otherwise health body parts, and administration of puberty-blocking drugs or supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or estrogen.”
“Texas law imposes reporting requirements upon all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers, and provides criminal penalties for failure to report such child abuse.” Abbott wrote.
The letter was also sent to other Texas agencies, including the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Medical Board and the Texas Education Agency.
When the determination was made by DFPS commissioner Jaime Masters in August, the letter to Abbott stated, “Genital mutilation of a child through reassignment surgery is child abuse. This surgical procedure physically alters a child’s genitalia for non-medical purposes potentially inflicting irreversible harm to children’s bodies.”
“Masters cited Section 261 of the Texas Family Code that prohibits parents from imposing substantial physical harm onto their children” reports National Review. “The commissioner added at the time that anyone who believes a child has undergone gender-transition surgery must report it to the DFPS and that all allegations involving the procedure on minors will be taken seriously and investigated.”
education
Republican Lawmakers Launch Investigation into Withholding of Data on Gender-Related Treatments for Minors
Republican lawmakers are opening an investigation into the withholding of data from a government-funded study on the effects of gender-related medical treatments for minors. This inquiry, as reported by National Review, centers on concerns over the politicization of science and the transparency of taxpayer-funded research.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.), chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, strongly condemned the withholding of study findings. “This is a clear example of the politicization of science at the expense of children,” Rodgers said. “Research funded by taxpayer dollars through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) should be publicly disclosed regardless of the results, and Americans deserve access to the truth.” She added that the House Energy and Commerce Committee will investigate the matter.
At the heart of the investigation is a study led by Johanna Olson-Kennedy, medical director of the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. The study, which began in 2015 and received $5.7 million in NIH funding, examines the effects of gender-affirming care in adolescents, focusing on 95 minors, averaging 11 years old, who were treated with puberty blockers. Over nine years, the study has reportedly received nearly $10 million in federal funding.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Olson-Kennedy stated that puberty-blocking drugs had not resulted in significant mental health improvements for the children in the study. Instead, she argued that the children were already in good condition prior to the treatments. This claim appears to conflict with a 2020 paper by the same research team, which reported that nearly a quarter of the cohort had endorsed lifetime suicidal ideation prior to receiving puberty blockers.
Olson-Kennedy has been withholding the complete data, citing political concerns. According to The New York Times, she feared that the findings could be “weaponized” to support legal efforts to ban gender-related treatments for minors. She worried that the results might be used in court to argue against the use of puberty blockers.
Republican lawmakers were swift to condemn this action. Morgan Griffith (R., Va.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, criticized the withholding of the data, calling it “irresponsible and inappropriate.” He emphasized that the American public has the right to “follow the science” even when findings contradict certain political agendas.
Representative Diana Harshbarger (R., Tenn.) echoed these sentiments, calling it “outrageous” that taxpayer-funded research could be suppressed to align with a particular political viewpoint. “This is a glaring example of why NIH must be reformed with measures like those initiated by Chair Rodgers to ensure transparency, standards of objectivity, and the removal of conflicts of interest in federal taxpayer-funded scientific and medical research,” she told National Review.
Brett Guthrie (R., Ky.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, emphasized the need for transparency from public health institutions. He expressed frustration that the study’s findings were not being published, stating, “Not publishing the results of taxpayer-funded research in fear of political blowback… fundamentally undermines the very nature of scientific research.” He further called for the immediate suspension of NIH funding for the study until the results are made public.
According to the NIH, Olson-Kennedy’s team received more than $950,000 in government funding for 2023 alone. Robert Aderholt (R., Ala.) highlighted that by receiving nearly $10 million in taxpayer dollars, Olson-Kennedy has an obligation to provide the public with the study’s results. He accused the left of hiding scientific data that doesn’t align with their agenda, adding, “When the science doesn’t back up their point of view, they will gladly try to hide it.”
Olson-Kennedy, who is also the president-elect of the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health, has been a vocal advocate for gender-affirming medical treatments for minors. In a previous study, she co-authored research that claimed chest reconstruction surgery (mastectomy) had a positive effect on transmasculine minors and young adults.
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Pherbia Stephens
March 1, 2022 at 3:47 pm
We are a male or female at the time of conception and doctors, nurses, or others who mess with making changes in children’s bodies are nothing but criminals. In my way of looking
at such is nothing but money hunger and the same criminals would even kill the child for enough money. Parents who would allow this to be done to their child are no better than the ones who performed such a crime. They are all going to have to face Jesus Christ at His return!
Left Coast
March 2, 2022 at 2:53 pm
How many of those Practitioners were Alphabet People?
Donna
March 3, 2022 at 2:07 pm
He needs to go after Judges who side with LGBTQ activists abd sexual perverts.
ConAlpizar
March 3, 2022 at 9:27 pm
Gender transition should be an option as an adult, not a kid. Parents need to stop abusing their kids in name of their political views.