To the editor:
I’m writing to correct the facts about the recent Maine bill regarding gender-affirming care for minors.
This bill is much more responsible than people seem to believe. It allows people who are 16 or 17 years old — note, only older teenagers — to begin hormone treatment without parental consent only if they meet the following criteria:
1. They have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria
2. They have received counseling
3. They are experiencing harm from not receiving care
4. Their parents have refused to support treatment.
Even if the person fulfills all criteria above, no surgery is allowed, only hormone therapy.
This isn’t a free-for-all, this is helping people get care that they need. Critics of gender-affirming care often frame this care as frivolous, something teenagers do for attention. This is not true.
According to the American Medical Association: “Empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression. For gender diverse individuals, standards of care … may include mental health counseling, non-medical social transition, gender-affirming hormone therapy, and/or gender-affirming surgeries… Every major medical association in the United States recognizes the medical necessity of transition-related care for improving the physical and mental health of transgender people.”
A common concern around this issue is that young people may begin transitioning and later come to regret it. However, regret rates are very low; according to a meta-analysis published in 2021, the regret rate for gender-affirming surgery (surgery, more invasive than the hormone therapy covered in the bill) was 1 percent. This is extremely low. For comparison, people who get knee replacements have an 18 percent discontent rate.
The bill is designed to help trans and non-binary youth who need access to healthcare. These young people need this care in order to live happy, healthy lives, which is what we want for all our youth. As the AMA and all other major medical associations understand, this care is a medical necessity for these teenagers. Why would we withhold it from them?
Jade Hopkins
Presque Isle
