Government orders doctors to perform procedures
it admits may harm children
Washington, D.C. – Doctors,
hospitals and five states will file a lawsuit today against a new federal regulation that would force doctors to
ignore science and their medical judgment and perform gender transition
procedures on children. The government does not even require Medicare and Medicaid to cover
these same gender transition procedures because the Health & Human
Services’ (HHS) medical experts found the risks were often too high and
benefits too unclear. But any doctor citing the same evidence and their
judgment in an individual case would be in violation of the new mandate and
face potential lawsuits or job loss.
“No doctor should be forced to perform a procedure that he
or she believes will harm a child,” said Lori Windham, senior counsel of the
Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “Decisions on a child’s medical
treatment should be between families and their doctors, not dictated by
politicians and government bureaucrats.”
A new website provides leading research on this issue, including
guidance the government itself relies on demonstrating that up to 94 percent of
children with gender dysphoria (77 to 94 percent in one set of studies and
73 to 88 percent in another) will grow out of their dysphoria naturally and
will not need surgery or lifelong hormone regimens. Studies also show that
there are numerous negative effects when children undergo hormone regimens,
such as increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and breast, ovarian,
and prostate cancer.
The government itself does not require coverage of gender transition procedures
in Medicare or Medicaid — even in adults — because it has acknowledged that
such procedures can be harmful. This rule would be the first time a law
forces doctors to break their Hippocratic Oath and is also unique in placing
mental health professionals as the final decision-makers on what medical care
doctors must provide for their patients.
The new regulation applies to 900,000 doctors — virtually
every doctor in the U.S., many of whom have chosen the medical profession
because they are inspired by their faith to serve those in need and to heal
others. They have taken an oath to put the needs of each patient first and do
no harm. But this regulation violates doctors’ ability to exercise both their
best medical judgment and their religiously-inspired desire to care for
society’s most vulnerable. It will also cost healthcare providers and taxpayers
nearly $1 billion.
“This regulation is blatantly hypocritical: The government
exempts coverage of gender transition procedures from Medicare or Medicaid
because it admits that they may be harmful; but it then tries to force private
doctors to perform the same procedures on young children,” said Windham.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty will file a lawsuit
today in federal district court in Wichita Falls, Texas, on behalf of
Franciscan Alliance, a religious hospital network sponsored by the Sisters of
St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration, and the Christian Medical & Dental
Associations, defending them from the new government regulation. The States of
Texas, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Wisconsin also
joined the Becket Fund’s legal challenge. More information can be found at www.transgendermandate.org.
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