WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Supreme Court this week is hearing a pivotal case, US v. Skrmetti, which could determine whether transgender youth in Tennessee and other states will have the right to access gender-affirming healthcare, according to The Guardian.
The case comes from a legal challenge against Tennessee’s law banning puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors that law critics argue undermines the constitutional rights of transgender individuals and endangers their health, reported The Guardian.
The Guardian adds, despite being heavily criticized by medical experts and previously dismissed by judges for bias, Tennessee’s legal team is relying on the testimony of doctors with controversial records to defend the ban.
Six doctors enlisted as witnesses have faced widespread criticism for their biased views and lack of experience in transgender healthcare, wrote the Guardian, adding several have been rebuked by courts across the country for offering misleading or unsubstantiated claims in past cases.
As reported by Accountable US, four of these doctors are linked to right-wing Christian legal groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), and three have no experience treating transgender youth.
The Guardian added Caroline Ciccone, president of Accountable.US, emphasized that these doctors are presenting “junk science,” noting their testimony has already been dismissed by courts for lacking scientific credibility, because “[i]t’s very telling that they can’t come up with anything better.”
According to The Guardian, one doctor, Dr. Paul Hruz, a pediatric endocrinologist, has been criticized for his stance against gender-affirming care. Hruz, who admitted in a 2017 deposition that he “intentionally does not treat transgender patients,” has claimed that treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy are “experimental” and “unethical.”
The Guardian adds his testimony has been rejected by courts in multiple states, with judges accusing him of peddling “conspiratorial intimations” and “political hyperbole.”
Hruz has denied these accusations, stating his position aligns with the views of some European countries. However, these claims have been contradicted by leading medical organizations in both the U.S. and Europe, who continue to endorse gender-affirming care for transgender youth, stated The Guardian.
The Guardian says that these treatments, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, are endorsed by major medical associations such as the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Psychiatric Association, who argue they significantly improve the mental health and well-being of transgender youth, reducing risks of suicide and self-harm.
According to The Guardian, Tennessee’s law, which blocks access to these treatments for minors, has far-reaching consequences not only for trans youth in the state but also for their families, who are forced to make agonizing decisions.
The Guardian reported families must either travel to states where such treatments are still available or go without the care their children need, citing the Williams Institute at UCLA, which estimates more than 100,000 trans youth in the U.S. are affected by similar laws—and studies have shown that suicide rates among trans youth increase in states that pass anti-trans laws.
According to The Guardian, Dr. James Cantor, a sexual behavior scientist who specializes in pedophilia, is another expert cited by Tennessee. His testimony has been criticized for lacking relevant experience, as he has never diagnosed or treated gender dysphoria in youth, nor has he worked with patients receiving gender-affirming medications, stated The Guardian. The Guardian expands that, in one instance, a judge described his testimony as “minimally persuasive,” noting a “deficiency in his experience” when it came to treating transgender minors.
The Guardian explains that Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU, warned, “This case is about the relationship between states and the people who live in them and decision-making about truly critical medical care and who determines what kind of life we lead for ourselves and for folks’ children.”
The Guardian says that for families like that of Kim Hutton, a mother of a transgender son, the stakes are personal and profound.
Hutton shared how she was told by Dr. Hruz that “some children are born to suffer and die,” a sentiment she described as the cruel, fanatic viewpoint of someone who doesn’t care for the well-being of transgender youth, wrote The Guardian, quoting Hutton, stating, “He would have parents like me strip medical care from our children and watch them suffer.”
In contrast, The Guardian writes families with access to gender-affirming care report significant improvements in their children’s lives.
Chelsea Freels, a 19-year-old trans woman affected by Missouri’s gender-affirming healthcare ban, described how transitioning had made her “much happier” despite the growing political debate around trans rights, wrote The Guardian, quoting Freels stating, “Doctors take a Hippocratic oath to do no harm. Taking away this healthcare is doing harm.”
The Guardian’s article writes that as the Supreme Court prepares to hear US v. Skrmetti, the nation watches closely, with expert testimonies increasingly discredited and widespread opposition from the medical community, noting the court’s ruling could resonate far beyond Tennessee.
Let’s hope that the SCOTUS does the right thing and puts a stop to experimenting on children’s health in the name of transitioning.
Gender-affirming care is not experimental. Major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association, support gender-affirming care. Gender-affirming care is the standard treatment for gender dysphoria.
Gender-affirming care is not experimental, according to physicians and psychologists interviewed by ABC News.
The first-of-its-kind gender care clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland opened in the 1960s, using similar procedures still used today, according to new research published by the American College of Physicians.
Major national medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and more than 20 others agree that gender-affirming care is safe, effective, beneficial, and medically necessary.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/researchers-dive-common-gender-affirming-care-youth-misconceptions/story?id=107041920