Thursday, in an Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing, Rep. Dan Crenshaw questioned U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra about the agency's use of questionable research from radical medical associations rather than hard science to determine gender transitioning policies for minors.
See his clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O61Pq--SwEE&t=38s
Rep. Crenshaw said:
“The Biden Administration proves every day just how radical they are. This time, Biden’s Secretary of Health & Human Services refuses to admit that his department is pushing pseudoscience disguised as healthcare. But healthcare is not:
- Affirming a child’s temporary ideations about their gender,
- Putting that child on puberty blockers, then hormones, and ultimately surgery. Most Americans and normal people would say that giving a 12-year-old girl a double mastectomy is not ok. If you’re going to support transitioning children (which is NUTS), with permanent physiological changes –you better have VERY HIGH-QUALITY evidence. But the Left has no good evidence.
“It’s all Left-Wing ideology that has infected our medical institutions, including major medical associations and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Dr. Hillary Cass, a former president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and one of the U.K.’s most highly respected pediatricians, was appointed by the National Health Service in England to head an independent review. The final review came out last week, and it pretty much torches the so-called “gender-affirming” approach that the United States has taken. To quote the review: “The evidence [for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery] is weak and clinicians have told us they are unable to determine with any certainty which children and young people will go on to have [gender dysphoria].” –The Cass Review
“Want to know their key finding? Of the more than 100 studies examining the role of puberty blockers and hormone treatment for gender transition, only 2 were of passable quality. Our peer countries are yelling at the United States to stop mutilating children. And I asked the Secretary a very basic question: whether he would listen. His answer: we rely on medical associations and the best evidence available. He’s a mouthpiece for the Radical Left. Gender ideology belongs in the ash heap of history, and that’s exactly why I will continue to push my legislation to defund children’s hospitals that push this pseudoscience.”