State-Financed Sex-Change Operations For 15-Year-Olds

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State-Financed Sex-Change Operations For 15-Year-Olds

October 13th, 2015

Awake Goy

Oregon implements policy to cover treatments for people with gender-identity disorder.

In January, 2015, Oregon became the first state in the Union to permit sex-change surgery for persons as young as 15 years of age. Under the new policy neither parental consent nor parental notification is required for a person to get the operation and funds are available to pay for the sex-change operation through the State’s Medicaid program.

The Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC) changed its policy to include cross-sex hormone therapy, puberty-suppressing drugs and gender-reassignment surgery as covered treatments for people with gender identity disorder. According to the Oregon Health Authority, the age of medical consent in Oregon is 15 years.

There are many reactions, mostly negative, to the policy. Although HERC’s website shows transgender policy was discussed at four meetings in 2014 and was passed without opposition, many parents first became aware of the new policy in July, 2015. Lori Porter of Parents’ Rights in Education said, “For a life-altering decision like that to be done unbeknownst to a parent or guardian, it’s mindboggling.” Jenn Burleton underwent sex-reassignment surgery and says requiring parental consent would lead to more suffering and teen suicide attempts. “Parents may not be supportive,” she said.

HERC estimates the cost of adding the new services will be no more than $150,000 per year, but believes the state will save money due to fewer suicide attempts. The Center For Disease Control And Prevention estimates the average cost per suicide attempt in the U.S. is $7,234.

According to a 2008 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, “Most children with gender dysphoria – a disorder in which a person identifies as the sex opposite of his or her birth – will not remain gender dysphoric after puberty.” Dr. Paul McHugh, a practicing psychiatrist, said Oregon’s policy amounts to child abuse, and [this is] “a very radical and even mutilating treatment being offered to children without any evidence that the long-term outcome would be good,” he added.