The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Tennessee law banning medical gender transition for minors, setting a precedent that other states could use to ban chemical and surgical mutilation of children. Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1 “prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow ‘a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex’ or to treat ‘purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity.'”
Health facilities and individual practitioners who continue to provide such services face fines, lawsuits and other regulatory actions. The petitioners argued that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits discrimination based on any identity markers, such as race, gender, religion, or national origin. The ruling was approved after a 6-3 vote, with the usual suspects dissenting. The majority agreed that the law does not require heightened judicial review, “because it does not classify on any bases that warrant heightened review.”
“This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. “The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound.”
However, Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued that transgender individuals make up less than 1% of the total population and that the law classifies them “on the basis of sex and transgender status,” thus subject to intermediate scrutiny. Nevertheless, Tennessee argued that the law could withstand heightened scrutiny because the state had compelling interests to protect children and the integrity of the medical profession. Justice Sotomayor also alluded to debunked studies claiming that children suffering from gender dysphoria attempt suicide, suggesting that chemical mutilation could save their lives, as other liberal activists have argued. “Some children suffer incredibly with gender dysphoria, don’t they? I think some attempt suicide?” She asked.
However, evidence showing that adolescents solely suffering from gender dysphoria are more prone to suicide is lacking, with mental illness being a likely comorbidity. Medical reviews have also shown that many children diagnosed with gender dysphoria suffer from other psychodevelopmental issues, such as autism, that could be managed with mental health support instead of irreversible chemical and surgical mutilation. Additionally, other studies have shown that teenagers who transition exhibit higher rates of depression and self-harm than those who did not receive gender affirming care. Between 60% and 90% of children with gender dysphoria who are not medically mutilated desist upon reaching adulthood. However, modern social transitioning, aka brainwashing and medical interventions, result in less than 10% reverting to their biological sex, making their juvenile gender exploration permanent.
Chemical mutilations, such as puberty blockers, once lauded by the radical left as reversible, have proven otherwise, with victims experiencing devastating lifelong effects such as regret, infertility and sexual dysfunction, and changes in bone structure. The liberal justice also claimed Tennessee had overridden the “views of the parents, the patients, the doctors,” who grapple with “these decisions and trying to make those trade-offs.” Ironically, parents across the country are fighting for the right to make the right decisions for their children. Some schools even hide gender dysphoria and transition students without their parents’ consent.
