Today's intersection: gender dysphoria and informed consent

When a legislature endures members trained in chiropractic who haven’t earned prescriptive authority and deny the efficacy of western medicine voters and residents remain at risk. The most obvious cognitive dissonance set up by legislation like South Dakota's HB 1080 is removing parents’ ability to provide informed consent in states where Republicans preach parental rights. 

DDT, other ag chemicals and BPA in baby food have already altered the genes in at least three generations not to mention what toxoplasma gondii has been doing to human genetics since time immemorial. But, allowing minors without parental consent access to powerful drugs that alter body and mind is not good governing. If legislatures really want to help kids they should fund research and lawsuits to push back against the Earth haters who manufacture poisons, for mental health professionals to treat adolescents with gender dysphoria and codify age of consent rather than issue blanket denials to all minors. 

In South Dakota minors can apply for therapeutic cannabis permits with parental or guardian consent, ffs.

A pregnant female not yet at the age of consent is the victim of a crime so if a minor is suffering from gender dysphoria criminalize the cause and identify the perpetrators. 

About 1 in a 1000 babies is born with ambiguous genitalia or intersex characteristics and with parents’ blessings pediatric surgeons routinely assign a single gender to newborns—with informed consent. 

But South Dakota Republicans don’t want schools to even talk about the causes of gender dysphoria. Why? Because their campaign dollars come from white christianists like the Family Heritage Alliance and the LGBT-bashing Family Research Council and culture war lawsuits raise money for Earth haters like Mrs. Noem and Mr. Deutsch by design.

What about cochlear implants? Informed consent is the prerogative of parent(s) or legal guardian(s). It varies per state but in most minors cannot give medical consent until 18. Bariatric surgery isn't even approved for patients under 18, just for instance so 'gender affirming' surgery that includes genital mutilation for anyone under the age of consent seems barbaric.

Puberty blocking medications are neither cheap nor without contraindications. 

According to Mayo, to begin using pubertal blockers, a child must: 

•Show a long-lasting and intense pattern of gender nonconformity or gender dysphoria 

•Have gender dysphoria that began or worsened at the start of puberty 

•Address any psychological, medical or social problems that could interfere with treatment 

•Have entered the early stage of puberty 

•Provide informed consent 

Social contagion like the gender reveal sensation Americans are witnessing currently is a passing fad. 

I submit that a parent who observes chronic gender identity issues early in an offspring and doesn’t seek out a psychologist is doing that child harm and South Dakota’s wretched governor and legislature are hurting parents and children by not funding universal health care.