Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in an interview that he would be willing to pass a law in Florida banning sex-change surgeries for minors.
In an interview with political commentator Lisa Boothe on her podcast, “The Truth with Lisa Boothe,” DeSantis spoke about Florida’s role in taking on the progressive “woke” agenda in his state. During the interview, Boothe asked him whether he would take action to ban gender transition surgeries on minors, after members of the Biden administration said such surgeries are “crucial” and a “best practice,” and have claimed that “there is no argument among medical professionals … about the value and the importance of gender-affirming care.”
“So, the Florida Department of Health has issued guidelines for treating gender dysmorphia, recommending against gender transition, puberty blockers, and hormones, but would you support a state law banning any of those medical interventions for children?” Boothe asked.
“I would ban the — yeah I would ban the sex change, the operations,” DeSantis responded. “I think that it’s something that — you can’t get a tattoo if you’re 12 years old. When they say ‘gender-affirming care,’ what they mean, a lot of times is, you are really, you’re castrating a young boy, you’re sterilizing a young girl, you’re doing mastectomies for these very young girls. And, here’s the thing, what our guidance pointed to, and [Surgeon General Joseph Ladopo] did a great job, for these young kids, 80% of the cases resolve themselves as they grow up, and so you’re doing things that are permanently altering them, and then they’re not gonna be able to reverse that, and so I don’t think it’s appropriate for kids at all, I think the guidance is right, but I think that there should be additional protections. ‘Cause, you know, when you’re growing up, there are things that, you know, it’s an awkward time, and it seems like there’s a concerted effort in society to push these kids in to do some type of medical intervention, and in our judgement that’s not healthy.”
The Florida Department of Health released guidance on April 20 opposing transgender treatments for children. “Systematic reviews on hormonal treatment for young people show a trend of low-quality evidence, small sample sizes, and medium to high risk of bias,” the guidance said. “A paper published in the International Review of Psychiatry states that 80% of those seeking clinical care will lose their desire to identify with the nonbirth sex. One review concludes that ‘hormonal treatments for transgender adolescents can achieve their intended physical effects, but evidence regarding their psychosocial and cognitive impact is generally lacking.’ The Department recommended against ‘social gender transition,’ i.e. changing a child’s name, pronouns, and clothing, as a treatment option for children; opposed prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy to children and adolescents; and opposed gender reassignment surgeries as a treatment option. Based on the currently available evidence, ‘encouraging mastectomy, ovariectomy, uterine extirpation, penile disablement, tracheal shave, the prescription of hormones which are out of line with the genetic make-up of the child, or puberty blockers, are all clinical practices which run an unacceptably high risk of doing harm,'” the guidance concluded.
In addition to Florida’s guidance, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has proposed investigating parents and medical professionals who participate in gender transition surgeries on a child, and potentially prosecuting them for child abuse. The state of Idaho has also introduced legislation that would ban gender transition surgeries for children.