No. 1: State legislators are not doctors — and they should not be making medical decisions.
By Anna Marks Editorial Assistant, Opinion |
Last week, Kentucky and West Virginia became the latest states to pass laws restricting access to (or outright banning) gender-affirming medical care. Intimate medical decisions about gender identity are usually made between patients and their physicians. But when these laws circulate in statehouses across the country, such medical care enters the domain of less-than-expert pundits and politicians. |
Increasing litigation of trans identities has emboldened arguments that widely-accepted approaches to gender-affirming care are up for debate. |
To make sense of the science, we turned to Marci Bowers, a gynecologic and reconstructive surgeon who has decades of experience practicing transgender medicine. As the president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, an organization that sets standards for the health care needs of transgender patients, she is one of the people in the country best suited to dispel some of the most pervasive myths about trans medical care. |
In a guest essay for Times Opinion, Dr. Bowers says that "the field of transgender medicine is evolving rapidly, but it is every bit as objective- and outcome-driven as any other specialty in medicine." She explains that "when patients are treated for gender dysphoria, their self-esteem grows and their stress, anxiety, substance use and suicidality decrease." She makes clear that the greatest issue for those experiencing gender dysphoria isn't the uncommonly low possibility they might regret seeking treatment; it's gaps in the availability of much-needed care. |
And on the subject of legislation? Dr. Bowers's argument is unequivocal: "Anti-treatment bills will not protect children, and they will not help the medical community provide better care for patients in need. We should instead take anti-transgender legislation for what it is: thinly veiled cruelty to a specific minority population of the country." |
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