SUPPORT HB 1220/SB 480: Guarding minors against transgender surgeries and medications
Summary
House Bill 1220 and Senate Bill 480 would prevent physicians and other practitioners from performing experimental gender transition procedures on minors. This includes surgeries to alter one’s sex and the provision of hormone blockers to slow down puberty. They also prohibit the supplying of cross-sex hormones to minors, such as testosterone to biological females and estrogen to biological males. The bills include exceptions for individuals with certain medically verifiable sex development disorders. The bills also lay out means of recourse for individuals who are harmed by any violations of the bills’ statutes, and also establish methods of discipline for practitioners who violate the bills.
Analysis
We live in an age where children are extremely confused over identity, with gender being one of the most difficult areas. More than ever, children are exposed to ideologies claiming that you can be whatever gender you want and that embracing your “true gender identity” is the key to happiness. For kids struggling increasingly with anxiety and loneliness, this can be a very appealing message at first, often earning them approval from peers at school and on social media. Indeed many have bought in, with Americans ages 13-17 nearly three-times as likely to identify as transgender than those 18 and older according to a 2022 Williams Institute study.
Too many children are falling victim to the pain-filled path of gender transitioning. Equally horrifying is the number of adults, people who kids should be able to trust, facilitating this trend. Many of them even stand to profit off of the confusion of children, as the trangender health care industry is only increasing in prominence. Whether it be from a teacher, a counselor, or a doctor, children who even hint at having questions about gender are being lied to that a social and medical transition will solve their problems, when in fact it will only make them much worse.
Conclusion
Children having access to irreversible surgeries and medications is extremely dangerous, with risks of cancer, osteoporosis, loss of sexual function, and a myriad of other health problems all being present. It is important to remember that about 70% of minors who suffer from gender dysphoria end up outgrowing the problem by their adult years, according to the 2020 book Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier. Preventing physicians from providing “gender-affirming” procedures to minors is a critical step in the process of supporting Hoosier children. It is in line with common sense, science, and the religious beliefs of so many Indiana residents. Kids must be guided through the confusing years of childhood and adolescence not with dangerous lies, but with truth and love, receiving reality-affirming care from the adults they rely on.
IFI supports HB 1220 and SB 480
Contact your representative here.