Washington Post Editorial Board Declares There Is ‘Reason to Worry’ About Transgender Treatments for Kids
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File
The Washington Post is sounding the alarm about the lack of strong evidence for providing children with gender-transition treatments like puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries, arguing that there is “reason to worry” about their use.
In an editorial published on Sunday, the Post weighed in on the underlying medical questions in United States v. Skrmetti, the Biden administration’s legal challenge to a Tennessee law outlawing the prescription of said treatments to minors.
After submitting that “Tennessee has a colorable claim before the court,” the editorial board went on to say that” it would be ludicrous to suggest that patients have a civil right to be harmed by ineffective medical interventions — and, likewise, unconscionable for Tennessee to deny a treatment that improves patient lives, even if the state did so with majestic impartiality. The issue is subject to legal dispute in part because the medical questions have not been properly resolved.”
It continued:
The uncertainty is the result of scientists’ failure to study these treatments slowly and systematically as they developed them. Early studies from a Dutch clinic seemed to show promising results, but the research started with only 70 patients (dropping to 55 in a follow-up study) and no control group. Treatment results that look impressive in small groups often vanish when larger groups are studied. That’s why the Food and Drug Administration generally requires large, randomized controlled trials of drugs: to ensure that encouraging initial results aren’t mere statistical noise.
The Post went on to decry an academic environment in which “Some clinicians appear reluctant to publish findings that don’t show [that the treatments have] strong benefits,” as a result of pressure campaigns from advocacy organizations with more explicit political aims.
“The failure to adequately assess these treatments gives Tennessee reason to worry about them — and legal room to restrict them,” argued the editorial board.
“No matter how the court rules, though, the federal government should supply the missing evidence at the heart of this dispute,” concluded the Post. “Children with gender dysphoria deserve clearer answers.”
