by Eric Lendrum
A new report shows that laws enacted by red states to ban so-called “gender transition” surgeries and other procedures have severely impacted clinics and other facilities that previously provided such treatment.
As reported by the Daily Caller, the study in the American Medical Association’s JAMA shows that, out of 271 gender clinics across the country, at least 70 are now “inactive” due to bans implemented by 20 different states. The survey also confirms that at least 30 percent of all minors between the age of 13 and 17 who believe themselves to be “transgender,” a total of roughly 89,100, are currently living in states with such restrictions.
The study, which began in March and was published on July 25th, researched clinics in the 48 continental United States that provide hormone therapy, puberty blockers, genital mutilation surgeries, and any other such treatments. The survey noticeably “excluded locations providing gender-affirming surgery only,” and identified states with restrictions “based on the presence of enacted legislation, executive actions, funding provisions, or other policies that limited access to puberty-suppressing medications and hormones for patients younger than 18 years.”
The study also examined the impact of such restrictions on the amount of time it would take for such afflicted minors to drive to the nearest active clinic, both before and after the restrictions were implemented. Before the restrictions were enacted, 27.2 percent of “transgender” minors between the ages of 10 and 17 lived more than an hour’s drive from the nearest clinic; after the laws were put in place, that percentage increased to 50 percent. Those who lived as much as four hours away were just 1.4 percent before restrictions, but jumped to 25.3 percent afterwards.
A federal bill to ban such “sex change” procedures at the national level was recently introduced by Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio); the legislation would make it a Class C felony to knowingly provide hormone treatments, puberty blockers, and genital mutilation surgeries to a minor. Those convicted under this law would face a prison sentence ranging from 10 to 25 years, or a maximum fine of $250,000.
Transgenderism is a mental disorder in which an individual incorrectly believes themselves to somehow be the opposite gender of the one they were actually born as. Although there is no scientific basis for this concept, it has become popular among younger Americans as a form of social contagion, promoted by social media and pop culture, and fully embraced by the Democratic Party in its push for “diversity.” However, suicide rates remain just as high for those who “transition” as those who don’t, and many who undergo such irreversible procedures often express regret afterwards.
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Eric Lendrum reports for American Greatness.
