a reply to:
seasonal
I won't go so far as to call this "fake" news, but I will say that this is a piss poor effort at reporting on a serious subject. Whether to serve an
agenda, or simply due to ignorance and/or incompetence, it is typical of the mainstream media coverage... and exemplifies how transgenders have become
pawns with little to no regard for their very real needs and suffering.
Here are a couple much better (informational) article:
ACA
Pregnancy Termination, Gender Identity Protections Blocked; Wellness Program Incentives Survive
Judge blocks Obama mandate forcing doctors to
perform abortions, transgender surgeries
The lawsuits challenged both abortion mandates and transgender mandates:
Now the Department of Health and Human Services has taken Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits “sex” discrimination in the
provision of health care, to mean that hospitals, insurance companies and other health care entities that receive federal funding must cover or
perform abortions and sex-reassignment surgeries, even if doing so would violate their religious beliefs.
From what I have read, the religious freedom defense was in regard to the abortion mandate, not the transgender mandate. In other words, doctors who
believe abortion is murder will not be forced to murder unborn babies in violation of their faith and conscience.
It should also be noted that the transgender mandate is not about ensuring that doctors provide basic medical care to transgender persons; it is about
forcing doctors and other medical personnel to provide transgender-specific treatments (including surgery) to anyone and everyone who asks for it --
even if that doctor does not believe the requested treatment is appropriate or in the best interests of the patient, or even when the doctor is not
qualified to provide such treatment. Under the transgender mandate, the doctor would not even have the option of referring the patient to another
doctor better qualified and experienced to provide the treatment.
As noted in the lawsuit, there is no definitive proof that reassignment treatment (hormonal and/or surgical) is the best or only option for gender
dysphoria. While it seems to provide relief for some, that relief is not universal. Perhaps because the root cause of gender dysphoria is not yet
known. Personally, I believe there are many reasons for gender dysphoria, from a basic mental disorder, to the systemic poisoning of our environment
by synthetic hormones and other endocrine disrupters, including pharmaceuticals, to chemical/hormonal imbalances -- either currently, or during key
gestational periods of development.
There is a very real and coordinated push for invasive and long-term (as in life long) transgender treatments which ignore the very real adverse side
effects and outcomes of those treatments. Such treatments are probably the best options for a percentage of transgender persons, but not ALL. For
example, it is known that the vast majority of kids who experience gender dysphoria outgrow those feelings. In other words, the gender dysphoria is
only temporary and resolves itself. There is also some evidence that excess testosterone can cause feelings of gender dysphoria in men, which can be
corrected by decreasing/blocking the excess testosterone.
This should also be kept in mind when considering the efforts to prohibit any/all "conversion" therapies which demand only gender reassignment
treatments. For the guy who simply has too much testosterone, the appropriate medical treatment would be decreasing testosterone to normal levels...
but that could very well be banned by poorly written regulations that would force him to either accept gender reassignment or not get any treatment at
all.
There is no one-size-fits-all bandaid here.