NCPFF strongly supports parental rights and protecting children. We believe that the push toward medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria is irresponsible, against medical ethics, and defies informed consent. Please find the below letter that was sent to the NC Senate and House and the Medical Society.
NC Medical Society
222 N. Person St.
Raleigh. 27601
The board of North Carolina Physicians for Freedom (NCPFF) is writing to share our position on current legislation related to: Parental Rights; the Youth Protection Act; obscenity-related (Drag Queen performances) and specifically informed consent as a provision of all these Bills.
The hundreds of physicians and medical professionals in PFF’s network are greatly disturbed by numerous conversations we have had with various legislators, reports we have read from the media, and in particular the Medical Society’s self-applause for their successful effort to keep minor consent in HB 808, the Youth Protection Act.
In all cases, opposition arguments center on the “controversial nature” of these Bills, and an insistence on the need to tone down, dilute, ignore, or eliminate such legislation.
Ostensibly, the main point of contention is whether minors should be allowed to provide consent for medical treatments related to gender transition, including puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, and related surgeries without parental knowledge.
In addition, the Drag Queen Bill would have prohibited minors from attending female impersonator performances that have been deemed inappropriate for minors in schools, public libraries and other public venues. This particular House Bill was never even debated.
Physicians for Freedom believes that like us, most North Carolina physicians do not support body-altering chemicals or surgeries for minors, and do support parental consent and decency standards. Our position is based on the following:
● For decades the medical community has known that the brains of children are not fully developed until
around age 24.
● Because of that, children cannot drive, vote, legally drink alcohol, buy cigarettes or consent to major
surgeries. That is true because neuroscientists know that children do not have the ability to understand
long-term consequences. In other words, children cannot provide true informed consent.
● To allow youth to make such decisions would not be safe or productive for them, or for the culture at
large. In addition, PFF strongly opposes the spurious “science” related to transgender “treatments” that
is leading an irrational rush to forever alter—if not mutilate—the bodies and minds of children.
● PFF supports parental inclusion in all activities that involve the mental and physical well-being of minors.
● It is important to note that legally speaking, if children “consent” to counseling and/or treatments that
result in physical complications, they cannot be treated by a hospital without parental consent.
● Another argument in favor of minor consent involves extreme cases, including that parents and
guardians would not approve of the minor’s decision and might become violent, and/or that the minor
might commit suicide if they can’t have what they want.
● These are cases that should be referred to licensed clinicians who are trained to deal with the often
undisciplined and inexperienced wants of youth, not school personnel.
● Policy and law should be applied consistently, albeit with defined exceptions.
Our network of medical experts will continue to follow these and other related Bills with the expectation that decision-makers and influencers will carefully consider the long-term implications of allowing minors to make life-changing decisions about their bodies and futures. Decisions about the lives of children belong to their parents. They are the best guardians of children’s health with the guidance of thoughtful, rational medical professionals.
Signed by our Board of Directors and Advisory Board
