Global Courant
A bill in California aims to control parents’ medical decisions about their children by forcing them to provide “gender-affirming care,” a psychotherapist told Fox News.
Parents battling for custody could be held liable for child abuse if they fail to “confirm” their children’s sex under the recently amended AB 957. The legislation, if it becomes law, would require judges presiding over such disputes to favor the parent which is best “confirms” the minor’s preferred identity, although it does not outline what “confirmation” entails.
Democratic Senator Scott Weiner of San Francisco co-authored a bill that would force parents to “confirm” the sex of their children. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
“It is so arbitrary and reckless for the state of California to introduce a bill based on this new approach that it will cause tremendous suffering,” said Stella O’Malley, an Irish-based psychotherapist who heads Genspect. The group advocates for evidence-based approaches to gender distress, according to its website.
“There are a number of problems with this bill. For starters, they don’t define what confirmation is,” O’Malley told Fox News.
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The legislation passed California’s lower chamber on May 3 and originally proposed that the courts would decide whether each parent in a custody battle confirmed the child’s sex. An amendment added last week added criteria for what constitutes parental responsibility for the welfare of children, requiring parents to confirm their child’s gender identity if they are deemed fit to provide “the health, safety and welfare of the child” in a court of law.
“An important aspect of the affirmative approach is that it is child-led,” O’Malley said. “The affirmative approach believes the child knows better, which effectively negates a child’s immaturity.”
“Never before in human history have we had children lead adults, have we had children lead professionals in the decisions surrounding their care,” O’Malley continued.
An author of the bill, MP Lori Wilson, said at a hearing in March that children should be affirmed “in every possible way”.
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“Whether it’s based on their gender, or it’s based on how their studies are in school, it doesn’t matter, our kids need affirmation,” she said.
Wilson wants to “draw a line in the sand” against anti-trans laws across the country, she told The San Francisco Chronicle this month.
California Senator Scott Wiener, a co-author of the bill, also introduced another bill that would require foster parents to confirm the gender identity of children placed in their homes. Last year, Weiner introduced SB 107 to make California a “haven” for child sex reassignments without parental consent.
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Demonstrators protest in support of rights for transgender youth. (Fox news)
So-called gender-affirming care, which can range from therapy sessions to surgery, is a fairly new medical approach that began gaining popularity about 10 years ago, O’Malley said. She said there isn’t enough evidence to suggest the approach works, saying there has been “shoddy science” in the field.
Studies have shown that transgender patients undergoing medical interventions as a form of treatment reduce the risk of mental illness, with one study finding that regimens of hormones or puberty blockers led to lower rates of suicidality and depression over 12 months.
Critics, meanwhile, have argued that the California bill erodes parental rights and could make failure to confirm a child’s gender a form of child abuse.
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“We have a lot of references in history where the state tried to take the place of parents, and it didn’t work out,” O’Malley told Fox News. “So this new way, there’s no reason for us to think it’s going to work.”
A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on AB 957 is scheduled for June 13.
Neither Wilson nor Weiner responded to a request for comment.
Click here to watch O’Malley’s full interview.
Gabriel Hays contributed to this report. Isabelle McDonnell contributed to the accompanying video.
Jon Michael Raasch is an associate producer/writer at Fox News Digital Originals.
