ALITO CALLS OUT SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR IGNORING RESEARCH THAT EXPOSED RISKS OF TRANS PROCEDURES FOR KIDS

National Review

 

Alito Calls Out Solicitor General for Ignoring Research That Exposed Risks of Trans Procedures for Kids

By James Lynch

December 4, 2024 12:28 PM

 

Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito tore into solicitor general Elizabeth Prelogar for arguing Wednesday that transgender procedures often result in better outcomes, a claim that fails to take into consideration a growing collection of evidence to the contrary.

 

The justices heard oral arguments Wednesday in United States v. Skrmetti, a case about whether Tennessee’s law banning transgender operations and hormone treatments for minors is Constitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

 

Alito quoted Prelogar’s petition to the Court claiming “overwhelming evidence” supports the notion that puberty blockers and hormone treatments improve the well-being of unwell adolescents confused about their gender.

 

The solicitor general’s statement parrots common left-wing activist talking points in favor of giving minors life-altering hormonal and surgical treatments to address mental health struggles during puberty.

 

To counter Prelogar, Alito cited extensive research from European countries showing otherwise, including a study from a Swedish medical board that concluded the risks of transgender treatments likely outweigh purported benefits. Alito also referred to the United Kingdom’s Cass Review, which found little evidence to further the viewpoint that the benefits of transgender treatment are greater than the risks.

 

“I wonder if you would like to stand by the statement in your position or if you think it would now be appropriate to modify that and withdraw your statement,” Alito said.

 

The World Health Organization has similarly acknowledged that the evidence to support transgender procedures is sorely lacking. Research from Finland published earlier this year also found that suicides among kids with gender dysphoria is extremely rare, dispelling the common activist narrative that gender transitions are needed to save the lives of children.

 

Prelogar and transgender-identifying American Civil Liberties Union attorney Chase Strangio argued for striking down Tennessee’s law, while the state’s solicitor general Matt Rice defended the legislation as legitimate and necessary to protect minors from life-altering, experimental procedures. Strangio is a female who identifies as a male and a prominent progressive activist.

 

Confronted with the Cass Report’s finding that trans procedures like those at issue in the case don’t reduce suicidality among the adolescents who receive them, Strangio conceded the point, acknowledging that very few gender-dysphoric children actually go through with suicide, but argued that there is evidence that the procedures reduce suicidal inclinations.

 

The Biden administration and the ACLU are siding with multiple transgender plaintiffs challenging Tennessee’s law protecting minors from irreversible transgender medical interventions. Numerous red states have enacted similar bans in response to the growing number of patients who have come to regret the medical procedures and the increased participation of biological males in women’s sports.

 

Several detransitioners have raised their voices to describe how they were rushed into permanently scarring transgender operations when they were mentally distressed teenagers. Some detransitioners have filed lawsuits alleging medical practitioners wrongfully pushed them to undergo treatments with lasting consequences such as infertility and sexual dysfunction.

 

Missouri gender-clinic whistleblower Jamie Reed came forward with allegations last year that her facility in St. Louis was pushing severely disturbed minors into life-altering treatment with little interest in alternative options. The New York Times later substantiated Reed’s allegations, which played a major part in red-state legislation to prevent minors from receiving transgender medical operations.

 

The leading medical organization pushing for the transgender treatments is the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), a group that internally observed the experimental nature of transgender operations and patients’s lack of awareness of their consequences.

 

The oral arguments in the Skrmetti case are taking place in the backdrop of President-elect Trump’s resounding election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, in part because he contrasted Harris’s position on transgender-related issues to his own. One of the most effective political advertisements of the presidential cycle was Trump’s TV spot highlighting Harris’s past promotion of taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for illegal immigrants.

 

Trump has expressed support for banning transgender hormonal and surgical interventions on distressed minors and Trump has pushed for legislation to reaffirm the fact that there are only two genders.

 

Polling taken before the presidential election found that a significant majority of registered voters favored a national ban on transgender procedures such as puberty blockers and surgeries for minors. Other polls have shown the vast majority of Americans believe there are only two genders and competitive sports should correspond to biological sex.