Florida Board of Medicine Advances Plan to Prohibit Doctors From Giving Minors Transgender Treatments
Jose Nino
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On August 5, 2022, the Florida Board of Medicine voted to move forward a plan to prohibit doctors from giving minors gender-affirming treatments. Most notable of these treatments covered on this proposed ban are hormone therapy and puberty blockers.
Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s Department of Health Secretary, admitted during a public hearing in Broward County that “strong feelings about the issue” abound. He did stress that present care standards are a “substantial departure” from the “level of evidence and data surrounding the issue.”
“It is very clear that the effectiveness is completely uncertain,” Ladapo stated. “I mean, maybe it is effective, but the scientific studies that have been published today do not support that.”
Jannis Falkenstern of Epoch Times, pointed out that minors who are going through gender dysphoria should obtain counseling to treat their issues.
Dr. Quentin Van Meter, a pediatric endocrinologist, acted as an expert for the state during the hearing and cautioned the board about rising numbers of children who are looking for gender reassignment treatments.
“This is a giant experiment on United States children,” Van Meter stated in front of the board.
Van Meter called attention to how Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom have “halted treatment” for transgender youths.
“They found that there was far more harm than any benefit in allowing these children to receive any kind of medical intervention,” Van Meter stated. “There are approximately 127,000 children throughout the U.S. that are receiving gender-affirming treatment.”
In July, the Florida Department of Health submitted a petition that called on the medical board to start a rule-making process on gender reassignment therapies. On top of that, the Board of Medicine urged the state Agency for Health Care Administration to bar the Medicaid program from covering adolescents’ and adults’ treatments for gender dysphoria.
According to federal government’s definition, gender dysphoria is a “significant distress that a person may feel when sex or gender assigned at birth is not the same as their identity.”
It’s great to see a state like Florida take on cultural degeneracy. For too long, the Republican Party has taken an economically reductionist approach to policymaking while largely ignoring social issues. That has ended with the likes of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis showing other Republicans leaders how to use state power in a prudential manner to maintain order and liberty.
When states like California function as models of multicultural dysfunction, Florida serves as a counterexample of order liberty. Other Republicans should follow in Florida’s footsteps.
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