Major Transgender Org to Recommend Lowering Age for Hormone Treatment, Surgeries By Zachary Evans
A transgender health organization will release new guidelines lowering its recommended age to receive gender-transition treatments.
Hormone treatments may begin at age 14, about two years younger than previously recommended, according to new guidelines from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. The group is expected to publish the new guidance in a medical journal sometime this year, and gave the Associated Press an advance copy of the recommendations.
In addition, some surgeries may be conducted at ages 15 or 17, about a year younger than previously recommended.
Dr. Eli Coleman, head of WPATH’s standards of care, consent of the parents and the maturity of the person who wants to transition should also be taken into account before making a decision to transition.
“Certainly there are adolescents that do not have the emotional or cognitive maturity to make an informed decision,” Coleman told the AP.
The news comes amid rising national debate on gender-transition procedures for minors, including attempts in several states to pass laws barring minors from undergoing gender-transition procedures. President Biden is set to sign an executive order on Wednesday in an attempt to counter such legislation.
Alabama governor Kay Ivey signed a bill in April that banned hormone prescriptions and gender-transition surgeries for minors, or any resident under age 19. That bill was partially blocked by U.S. District Judge Liles Burke in May, who allowed the ban on surgeries to remain in place but granted a temporary injunction on the ban on hormone prescriptions.
Parents “have a fundamental right to direct the medical care of their children,” including “the more specific right to treat their children with transitioning medications subject to medically accepted standards,” Burke ruled at the time.
Texas governor Greg Abbott in February ordered his state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents of transgender minors for potential child abuse. Groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal have fought that order in court.
Arkansas enacted a law banning gender-transition procedures for minors in 2021, however the law was subsequently blocked from taking effect in court.
Comments are closed.
