A Representative Exchange
Submitted anonymously by a fellow concerned Oregon therapist
Dear Susan,
It appears that HB2002 has made it out of committee and is going up for a vote. This bill has a tremendous number of flaws and should not see the light of day. I think there can be arguments for pieces of it, but in its current state it is an awful bill.
I am a mental health counselor in your district. This bill effectively takes away the rights of parents to protect their young teenagers from various aspects of harm. Allowing abortions and “gender affirming” care without parental permission to children who are too young to get a tattoo or even a piercing without parental permission is egregious. The following is the original testimony I gave against this bill:
As written, this bill conflates too many different perspectives and topics and should not move forward. For the purpose of this testimony, I am primarily speaking about "gender affirming" care aspect. I am a mental health therapist that has been practicing in Oregon for over 25 years, primarily with teens and young people. Our current culture has produced an unscientifically high number of young people who are identifying as the opposite sex. Unfortunately, they have also been presented with surgeries and hormone injections without proper vetting by the medical professionals who are supposed to be safeguarding them. More and more are regretting the surgeries and chemical and hormone injections, and we are seeing the lawsuits begin. Some recent examples of lawsuits include:
Jay Langadinosin Australia ("hormonal therapy, a double mastectomy, and the removal of her ovaries and uterus between the ages of 19 and 22");
Camille Kiefelin Oregon (double mastectomy)
Chloe Colein California ("off-label use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and a double mastectomy")
Layla Janein California ("puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and a double mastectomy at just 13 years old")
Keira Bellin the UK (puberty blockers at age 16)
Detransitioners are REAL and are increasing in number. There are several issues that this bill would create. By forcing insurance companies to provide these medical services, every citizen will pay for this with increased premiums, when many families are already struggling in today’s economy. Having OHP provide these services means those expenses come out of taxpayer’s pockets. These are procedures that are rife with complications and often create lifelong medical patients.
The other aspect that I will address is that of people who regret their surgeries and hormone and chemical injections. They are often the forgotten or ignored in this. Will insurance companies also be responsible to address their medical needs? Which brings me to the liability of those medical professionals who fast track individuals into “gender affirming care.” This bill takes away the rights of the medically injured to sue those who have harmed them. In addition, it keeps medical professionals from having to be accountable. They can harm minors and young people and not have to answer for it. The fear of litigation makes us all think twice about our decisions. This is healthy, and medical personnel in this position SHOULD be thinking twice. Amnesty from litigation is not granted in any other medical procedure, and these procedures have the least amount of research to back them up. The state has no standing to take this right from vulnerable youth who are not fully capable of making lifelong decisions of this kind.
There are many other issues with this bill: minor availability to abortion without parental knowledge or consent, the destruction of parental rights, no limits on abortion up to full term are among the most egregious. There are many aspects of this that are a sex trafficker’s dream. The vast majority of Oregonians DO NOT agree with this, as evidenced by the amount of testimony and feedback in committee against it. I strongly urge you to vote “no” on SB2002.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Mental Health Provider
Dear Concerned Mental Health Provider,
Thank you for sharing your opposition to House Bill 2002. As a former educator, a mother and a grandmother, the health and well-being of children and university students across our state are very important to me. This being said, gender-affirming care and abortion are two issues where there are strong feelings on both sides.
I decided to vote in favor of this bill because I believe that an individual's healthcare choices are between that person and their doctor. I think it is important to remember that reproductive care is not limited to abortion- this bill would protect a spectrum of critical services such as HIV and STD testing and treatment, cancer screenings and pelvic exams. I believe people deserve access to all health care options - including the full range of reproductive care. I also believe that our transgender youth deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Having been a teacher for 40+ years, I have seen first-hand the detrimental effects of trying to control or influence a person’s identity or expression. Our society thrives when there are less barriers for individuals to access critical needs such as healthcare.
I appreciate you taking the time to write to me about these issues. They are controversial topics and I encourage you to continue to share your thoughts with me as this is an ongoing conversation and I always want to hear from all perspectives. I will continue to keep yours in mind as I move forward in this session.
Sincerely,
Representative Susan McLain
Dear Susan,
Thank you for your response. Having a history as an educator, I would expect you to have a working knowledge of the minds of young people. I am not aware of what age range you worked with, but as a mother I trust you have had experiences with the spectrum of youth. How many children that you taught, or that your children were friends with presented as transgender? I can speak to my 27 years of experience working with youth in the mental health field and I can say I didn't see a single one until about 10 years ago. I worked in residential treatment with girls aged 12-17, and they were street kids, abused and disenfranchised. Over the course of 9 years I had several hundred teen girls go through my program. NOT A SINGLE ONE presented as transgender. I would venture to guess you had a similar experience as an educator.
During your years in education what was your experience with social contagion, particularly with teen girls? Again, from my experience it was something we were always keeping our eye on. Fortunately for the time, we were dealing more with fads around piercings, drug use and eating disorders. All contagions with consequences, sometimes serious, but they didn't necessarily do permanent damage to their bodies. They could recover, and have an opportunity at a normal life as adults.
I just finished a session an hour ago with a young woman in her 30's who is detransitioning. She started testosterone at 25. She is very worried about the permanent damage she has done to her body, and she was an adult at the time she made that decision. Are teenagers REALLY capable to provide informed consent? Especially if you take parents out of the equation. They will trust anyone in authority, especially teachers, counselors and medical providers. However, most of the time it's the parents that have their interest at heart. They literally have skin in the game. Did you know that more suicides are committed 7-10 years AFTER transitioning than at any other time? Youth that identify as trans are not more vulnerable to suicide than their peers who are also experiencing anxiety and depression pre-transition.
I understand that you support reproductive rights. Why do all of these issues need to be in the same bill? There are a few beneficial aspects to this bill, I agree, but much more that is damaging to youth. As a therapist I have also sat with many woman who grieve the child they aborted. When you take away certain protections around abortions, including time limits around gestation and parental consent for youth, you endanger women as well. There are many women who are forced into abortion from their partners, and when there is no limit on when they can abort the emotional trauma increases. As a mother yourself can you imagine aborting your baby after being able to feel it move, and being forced to do so? We also have serious issues with sex trafficking, and Oregon is no stranger to this. Abortion without parental consent allows an abuser to drop the youth off to obtain that abortion, and there is no proof of the abuse.
Everything I bring up SHOULD NOT be political issues. Most of my colleagues in the mental health world that oppose "gender affirming" care for minors that includes cross sex hormones and medical intervention are outspoken Liberals. If more people in your district were aware of all of the aspects of this bill I think you would be hearing a lot more from them. Please reconsider your vote, and the fact that this isn't political. We need to support kids by letting them be kids, and not make life altering decisions when they are too young to understand the consequences. We recognize this with tattoos, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, piercings, and guns. Why aren't we using common sense and recognizing it with this as well? The research SHOWS that most youth change their minds about transitioning when left to their own devices 70-90% of the time.
Again, I beg you to reconsider.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Mental Health Provider
