Dr. Rachel Levine, the transgender Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), saluted “gender-affirming” care, saying that in the near future, such practices will be normalized.
Levine, who stated on the Connecticut Children’s Grand Rounds podcast that “gender-affirming” care had the “highest support” of the Biden administration, slammed the harsh criticism of medical professionals who advocate for “gender-affirming” care, which can include such radical practices as removing genitals.
“I think that these attacks are ideologically and politically motivated,” Levine charged, ignoring the profound concern expressed by many people that such care damages children. “I think they’re being done for primarily political purposes throughout the country.”
Levine claimed that support for “gender-affirming“ care would blossom, declaring, “I’m a positive and optimistic person, and I choose to be positive, optimistic. And I think that the wheel will turn on this, and I think it is not going to be politically advantageous; it wasn’t particularly in 2022, and so I think that as we look to all the different elections in 2024, I think the next two years are going to be challenging but I am positive and optimistic and hopeful that the wheel will turn after that and that this issue won’t be politically and socially such a minefield.”
Levin attacked states that have passed laws restricting abortion or “gender-affirming” care, snapping, “You live in a state, in Connecticut, where it is unlikely that those regressive, negative and discriminatory laws will pass and be implemented.”
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), an anesthesiologist who is the only Republican member of Maryland’s congressional delegation and serves as Co-Chair of the Pro-Life Caucus, said it’s “reprehensible for a government official—let alone the Assistant U.S. Secretary of HHS to promote the genital mutilation of minors as becoming a standard practice in the U.S.”
“As a physician, I was proud to co-sponsor the ‘Protect Children’s Innocence Act’ which would prohibit harmful medical procedures used to treat gender dysphoria in transgender minors, including puberty blockers and surgeries in which minors alter their body to correspond to a sex that differs from their biological sex,” Harris stated, as Fox News reported.
“Many pediatricians, particularly pediatric endocrinologists, have expressed serious concerns about the use of puberty blockers, hormone blockers, and sex transition surgeries in minors,” Harris added. “These doctors know that these medications and procedures can impact children’s bone growth, fertility, and risk of breast and prostate cancer. Meanwhile, HHS has pressured providers to provide this care or else face discrimination lawsuits. We must protect our children.”