Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) questioning the agency’s support of “gender-affirming care” for minors. The letter, addressed to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Dr. Lester Martínez-López, confronts the March edition of the American Journal of Public Health, in which four DoD-affiliated doctors said they strongly support instances of immediately moving to puberty blockers for children as young as seven.
“The DoD providers said in the March edition of the American Journal of Public Health that the only pathway for children of military members who present with gender dysphoria symptoms is to immediately move towards ‘gender-affirming health care, such as puberty suppression and affirming hormones.’ The doctors said that on the basis of ‘human rights,’ ‘youths… have an inherent ability and right to consent to gender-affirming therapy.’ They went so far as to claim 7-year-olds can make their own medical decisions," according to Fox News.
In his letter, Sen. Rubio writes to Dr. Martínez-López stating that “53 percent of military affiliated physicians in the Military Health System would not prescribe ‘gender-affirming’ hormone treatment. Those physicians are right to be skeptical. There is almost no safety data associated with the use of these so-called treatments in minors.”
“Those physicians are right to be skeptical. There is almost no safety data associated with the use of these so-called treatments in minors. Last year, Dr. Lawrence Tabak, Acting Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), testified before the Senate Committee on Appropriations that federal researchers are “observing the longer-term psychological impact of these protocols” and they only have “a small number of observational studies to gather the data on the effects.” irresponsible and malicious to recommend these procedures to young people,” wrote Rubio.
“It is irresponsible and malicious to recommend these procedures to young people,” concluded Rubio.
