Despite President Donald Trump’s executive order to outlaw such care, a doctor in New York City stated that he will continue to provide gender-affirming procedures to his patients under the age of 19 since, in his words, these patients’ lives rely on it.
Pediatrician and expert in teenage care Dr. Jeffrey Birnbaum stated, “Until somebody calls me away, I’m just going to keep doing it,” he continued, adding that New York Attorney General Letitia James told physicians in a statement on Monday that they must continue to provide such care in accordance with state law.
However, Birnbaum said his patients are afraid because of the directive and the choice made by a number of institutions to voluntarily cancel appointments for those who are 18 years of age or younger. According to him, the order may have an impact on roughly 20 of his patients.
“They’re terrified that their treatment is going to be interrupted, and they’re going to lose their treatment, plain and simple,” he stated. “And for them, it’s life-sustaining.”
Trump’s order, “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” forbids the use of government funds for transition-related care for transgender individuals under the age of 19, including hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and surgery. Additionally, it mandates that hospitals and medical schools that receive federal funding for research or education “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”
Hospitals in New York City, Colorado, Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. have either discontinued or declared that they are reconsidering their transition care programs for children, the White House said Monday, around a week after Trump issued the directive. Additionally, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles said on Tuesday that it was halting the start of hormone therapy for kids under the age of 19 who were receiving gender-affirming care.
According to Birnbaum, Trump’s executive order that aims to limit care and another that labels the possibility of transgender identity as “gender ideology” ignore the realities of the patients he sees on a daily basis.
“If somebody says the sky is green, just because they say it, doesn’t make the sky green,” Birnbaum stated. “I’m looking at the medical literature, research that’s been done. I’m looking at real people in front of me. I’m not looking at some right-wing, religious ideologue who is referring to this as ‘gender ideology.’ It’s no ideology. They have the ideology. I’m dealing with science and medicine.”
According to Trump’s executive order, the nation has a duty to shield children from “irreversible medical interventions” by limiting trans care for individuals under the age of 19.
The directive uses inflammatory language to describe transition-related treatment, stating that “countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding.”
Only a very small portion of minors in the United States receive gender-affirming treatments, according to research. Less than 0.1% of teenagers with private insurance who are transgender or gender nonconforming and receive hormone therapy or puberty blockers, according to a January research published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Akoni Drysdale-Ash, a trans 17-year-old Brooklyn resident and one of Birnbaum’s patients, claimed that taking testosterone almost three years ago significantly enhanced his quality of life.
He claimed that around seventh grade, when he began experiencing periods that left him feeling “totally dissociated” from his body, he began to experience a misalignment between his gender identification and his biological sex.
He likened the inability to obtain testosterone to attempting to operate a vehicle on a fuel other than gasoline. Even though he believes his care is well safeguarded in New York, he said it is frightening to think of losing that access.
“It does leave you with fear, because it’s like you’re taking away my visibility,” Drysdale-Ash stated. “You’re taking away my care when all I want to do is live. Sometimes getting that care is all people need to live, being themselves. If I can’t be myself, who else can I be?”
Jasmine Aldridge, his mother, also stated that her son has not had any irreversible medical procedures. For instance, he will undergo the puberty linked to his biological sex if he quits taking testosterone, reversing many of the changes that testosterone has caused.
“There’s that reality of your child might not even be here to see 19 if you don’t support them,” Aldridge stated in answer to those who inquire as to why trans minors cannot wait until they are adults to obtain transition care.
Trans children should be handled on an individual basis, according to standards of care created by medical organizations, such as WPATH, a nonprofit organization devoted to transgender medical care that creates guidelines that are frequently utilized by medical practitioners.
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There should be no medical transition before puberty, according to the norms.
If a youngster has persistent gender dysphoria—a severe mental suffering brought on by the misalignment between one’s gender identity and birth sex—they may start taking puberty blockers at the onset of puberty. Teens may begin hormone therapy and, in rare instances, have both breasts removed in a procedure known as a double mastectomy.
The majority of significant medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association, are in favor of allowing children to receive transition treatment and are against any limitations on it.
Last Monday, two transgender young adults and five families of trans youngsters sued the American Civil Liberties Union and LGBTQ legal advocacy group Lambda Legal to stop Trump’s directives on trans care and “gender ideology.”
On Friday, three Democratic states filed a lawsuit to halt the transition care directive. In a statement released on Wednesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James and twelve other attorneys general reaffirmed their dedication to ensuring that adolescents have access to this kind of treatment.
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Trump signed a number of executive orders that targeted trans rights during his first weeks in office, including one that prohibited trans people from joining or serving in the military.
Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior counsel and health care strategist for Lambda Legal, said this is evidence that the order limiting care for minors is not genuinely about protecting children.
Birnbaum said he has sent the same message to many of his patients as the court struggle unfolds.
Reference: New York doctor says he’ll continue providing transition care despite Trump executive order