Rachel Levine claims 'gender-affirming care' for minors is 'safe, medically necessary'
WASHINGTON (TND) — U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine is again insisting there's a consensus among medical professionals that "gender-affirming care is medically necessary, safe, and effective."
"Accredited medical professional groups agree that gender-affirming care is medically necessary, safe, and effective for trans and non-binary youth," Levine tweeted in response to an interview between former late night host Jon Stewart and Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.
Stewart, during the interview, challenged Rutledge over her state "overriding" this supposed consensus via its recently passed law restricting minors' ability to obtain "gender-affirming care."
"Gender-affirming care" commonly includes cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and gender reassignment surgeries.
Why would the state of Arkansas step in to override parents, physicians, psychiatrists, endocrinologists, who have developed guidelines -- why would you override those guidelines?" Stewart asked Rutledge during the interview.
The Arkansas Attorney General argued that for every single doctor supporting minors' access to "gender-affirming care" there are others who do not support it and believe the procedures have the potential to cause harmful and frequently irreversible effects that only someone over the age of 18 should be able to consent to.
But you know that's not true. You know it's not for every one, it's one," Stewart shot back, contesting Rutledge's claim that for every doctor supporting minors' access to "gender-affirming care" there is a doctor who opposes it. "You're suggesting that protecting children means overriding the recommendations of the American Medical Association, the American Association of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society."
Levine, like Stewart, has also insisted that "There is no argument among medical professionals" that minors' access to "gender-affirming care" is important and valuable.
Every major medical association agrees: gender-affirming care is life-saving, medically necessary, age-appropriate and a critical tool for health care providers," Levine said earlier this year. She has even gone so far as to say that attempts to restrict this care among minors is "costing the lives of young people."
READ MORE: "'There is no argument': Rachel Levine praises 'gender-affirming care' for adolescents"
Levine has also argued there is a lack of data contradicting her belief that access to "gender-affirming care" is lifesaving and medically necessary, just as Stewart himself argued.
There are a few studies. I've looked at them. A lot of them say that we need more research. We agree," Levine said of research cited by the Florida Department of Health. "When you look at the forthcoming World Professional Association for Transgender Health standards of care and you see the hundreds and hundreds of articles, you will be able to see the difference between the research base for the standards of care and the few studies cited by Florida."
However, critics of Levine and Stewart's point of view on access to "gender-affirming care" for minors have argued its supposed supporting data is weak.
Jeremy Redfern, a spokesperson for theFlorida Department of Health, argued Levine's claim that "every major medical association" agrees "gender-affirming care" saves kid's lives "isn't data," but rather is "an appeal to authority that is in stark contrast to the best available evidence."
READ MORE: "Rachel Levine slammed by Florida Dept of Health for alleged 'character assassination'"
The [Florida] Department of Health is following the evidence. The federal government is following the eminence," Redfern concluded.
Florida's Department of Health, headed by Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, has been a leader in challenging the idea that "gender-affirming care" is medically necessary and safe for minors. After the Biden administration released a memo in April supporting minors' access to these procedures, Ladapo and the Florida Department of Health released their own guidelines restricting minors from being able to obtain these treatments.
Florida's new guidelines citedresearch from the International Review of Psychiatry, which indicated 80% of individuals who begin seeking out clinical care for their gender dysphoria, will ultimately lose their desire to identify with a sex other than the one which was assigned to them at birth.
"Systematic reviews on hormonal treatment for young people show a trend of low-quality evidence, small sample sizes, and medium to high risk of bias," a memo laying out Florida's new guidelines stated. Among the restrictions issued via the new guidelines, is a prohibition on prescribing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to anyone under 18.
Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)added a warning to a drug commonly taken as a puberty blocker, due to concerns it was causingbrain swelling and other serious health risks among adolescents taking them.
READ MORE: "FDA warns puberty blocker may cause brain swelling, vision loss in children"
