Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) — a one-time Democratic presidential contender — is rebuking the Biden administration for its support of puberty blockers for children.
Gabbard’s comments come after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning against gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRH), known commonly as puberty blockers. The government agency said the drugs can cause swelling in the brain, blurred or loss of vision, tinnitus, dizziness, and nausea.
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The late-July warning came on the heels of contradictory comments from U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine, a man who identifies as a transgender woman. The doctor, the first transgender-identified person to obtain Senate confirmation, said giving children puberty blockers is “life-saving, medically necessary, age-appropriate, and a critical tool for health care providers.”
“As a pediatrician,” Levine added, “when it comes to making sure kids are healthy and happy, I know how important care that affirms someone’s true identity can be.”
Gabbard, 41, is now tearing into journalists as well as the White House for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ silence in the wake of the FDA’s “disturbing but not at all surprising announcement.”
“Now, if you haven’t heard about it, or, if you missed it, it is because the mainstream media and the Biden-Harris administration have been completely silent on it, and this warning that the FDA issued was basically saying that puberty blockers can cause serious health risks for our kids,” said Gabbard in a video posted Sunday to her Twitter account. “Unfortunately, at almost the exact same time the FDA issued this warning, Biden-Harris administration officials were making public statements actively promoting the use of puberty blockers and irreversible surgeries for kids.”
In mid-June, Biden issued a fact sheet indicating his Department of Justice has been filing “statements of interest” in lawsuits around the country challenging state laws seeking to restrict minors from receiving puberty blockers, transgender hormone treatments, or body-altering surgeries.
Furthermore, Biden’s DOJ sent letters to attorneys general around the U.S., “reminding them of federal constitutional and statutory provisions that protect transgender youth against discrimination, including when those youth seek gender-affirming care.”
The president’s Department of Health and Human Services states so-called “gender-affirming care” can include “gender-affirming surgeries,” which encompass “‘top’ surgery — to create male-typical chest shape or enhance breasts” or “‘bottom’ surgery — surgery on genitals or reproductive organs.”
Four states — Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, and Arizona — have passed legislation barring minors from receiving certain kinds of sex-and body-altering treatments and procedures. As CBN’s Faithwire recently reported, one mother in Chicago has even lost custody of her teenage daughter due to her unwillingness to give into her child’s transgender identity.
Lawmakers in several other states are considering laws to protect minors from transgender treatments.
For example, the Florida Department of Health stated in April, “Based on the currently available evidence, ‘encouraging mastectomy, ovariectomy, uterine extirpation, penile disablement, tracheal shave, the prescription of hormones which are out of line with the genetic make-up of the child, or puberty blockers, are all clinical practices which run an unacceptably high risk of doing harm.'”
It is clear throughout Scripture that sex is immutable. As it is written in Genesis, God created two sexes — male and female — each in His image and designed sexual expression to be enjoyed only within the confines of a marriage between one man and one woman (Genesis 1:27, 1 Corinthians 7:2, Hebrews 13:4).
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