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Watchdog Says Taxpayer-Funded Hospitals In Conservative States Are Transing Kids

Watchdog demands conservative states reveal number of minor gender transition surgeries in taxpayer-funded hospitals.

   DailyWire.com
University of Utah
University of Utah

A legal advocacy group led by former Trump administration official Stephen Miller has set its sights on five taxpayer-funded hospitals in Republican-led states that appear to be involved with gender transitions, demanding that they provide statistics about their operations on children.

America First Legal Foundation (AFL), which has outraged liberals by winning court battles finding that discriminating against whites is illegal, fired off Freedom of Information Act requests to hospitals in Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, Utah, and Virginia. The letters note that even European countries have moved away from providing gender surgeries on minors, raising the question of why conservative states were using taxpayer dollars to do so.

“For example, in 2021, Swedish hospitals halted the use of puberty blockers in five out of six clinics, with a single clinic only using them for clinical trials,” the letters state. “Sweden also now emphasizes psychotherapy for gender dysphoric minors instead of puberty blockers.”

Targets include the University of Iowa’s LGBTQ and Questioning Clinic, which says it provides “post-surgical care for those who have undergone gender affirming surgery” and “gender-affirming voice services”—something AFL calls “brazen” in a rural state like Iowa.

Another is the University of Virginia Health’s Youth Transgender Clinic, whose website shockingly says “we offer transgender youth health services for ages 11 to 25” and adds that “Our services include… puberty blockers … cross-sex hormones [and] referrals for gender affirming surgeries.” Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin won office in part for his stand against gender ideology in schools.

In Georgia, the Grady Center in Atlanta says it has a “Gender Center [that] supports gender transition for transgender and gender non-conforming people.” AFL asked the Georgia Department of Public Health how many minors have been transitioned at Grady, how many had complications to their surgeries, and how many “desisted,” or change their mind, afterwards.

AFL said that Utah has passed a law placing an “indefinite moratioum” on puberty blockers and hormones for minors, but that the University of Utah Health’s Gender Management and Support Clinic has used a “loophole” to continue to provide services. Indeed, the university’s web page features a section titled “Health Services for Transgender Teens & Youth” that lists “puberty blockers” and “gender-affirming hormones.” Utah’s legislature is about 80% Republican, though an analysis found that those Republicans often behave surprisingly liberal.

Then there is Ohio State University Wexner Medical Clinic, which says it is an “academic health center” that offers “bottom gender-affirming surgery” as well as “facial feminizing surgery” and “prosthetics.”

Finally, in Cleveland, Ohio, Metro Health has a unit called Kids Pride Gender Care. The unit says “the initial intake includes three appointments,” one with parents, one with the child, and the third with both, “to review what has been said and to discuss the next steps,” such as “their gender goals and interest in transitioning.”

The groups are likely to be sued if they do not turn over the records.

“While children and adults across the United States are being experimented on, the American public remains largely in the dark about these clinics and their insidious practices,” the foundation said in a statement. “America First Legal is determined to obtain documents related to the total number of minors treated by these clinics each year, data regarding puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones prescribed annually, and other critical data on these so-called ‘transitions.’” 

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