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Sex-Change Drugs Given to Children as Young as 12
Filed under: In The News, Health
The drugs stop puberty and stunt sex organs. Credit: Getty Images
Bummer. This could be the worst year of elementary school ever.
Some people will tell you, the age of 12 is a tad young to make life-altering decisions, but for those unprepared to wait, lo and behold, there are drugs.
The Daily Mirror in London reports children as young as 12 are being given drugs to prep their barely pubescent bodies for switching genders. The drugs stop puberty and stunt sex organs and prevent the development of facial hair and sperm in boys and breasts in girls.
According to the newspaper, doctors admit most of their young patients don't follow through with sex-change operations. Many of them simply turn out to be gay.
Nonetheless, they tell the Mail, getting injections of the drug makes it easier to operate on them later.
"The majority of our referrals are 15-plus. Of the children aged 12 and 14, there's a number who are keen to take part," Polly Carmichael, a physician who runs Britain's only gender identity clinic in London, tells the Mirror.
Britain just recently began offering the drugs to the late-elementary school crowd, following the United States, Holland and Germany.
However, there are very few places in the United States where children can go for the treatments. One of them is Children's Hospital in Boston.
Norman Spack, an endocrinologist at the hospital, defended the treatments in a 2008 interview with the Boston Globe, telling the newspaper he treated children, many of whom had attempted suicide, who had fled from Britain to receive treatments.
"And I've never seen any patient make (a suicide attempt) after they've started hormonal treatment," he told the Globe.
"All I know is that when I see preadolescents, they have been dressing in the underwear of the other sex for years," he added. "These kids are almost certainly transgendered. They're a unique population of patients. By the time a kid comes in to see me, both parents have agreed that the child is in danger and needs some form of intervention. And that has led to heavy-duty counseling for the child and parents. Therefore I see young people and families who have been evaluated by skilled professionals."
The health risks are minimal, he told the Globe.
"The biggest challenge is the issue of fertility," he said in the 2008 interview. "When young people halt their puberty before their bodies have developed, and then take cross-hormones for a few years, they'll probably be infertile. You have to explain to the patients that if they go ahead, they may not be able to have children.
"When you're talking to a 12-year-old, that's a heavy-duty conversation," he added. "Does a kid that age really think about fertility? But if you don't start treatment, they will always have trouble fitting in. And my patients always remind me that what's most important to them is their identity."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 3)
4-11-2011 @ 3:43PM
lordgamble said...This is sickening. You people doing this to children are warpped.
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 3:55PM
Jennifer said...When I was 11 years old, I was a little rough around the edges. In face, my father thought for sure I was going to be gay. Guess what? It was just a phase! And my relationship with my father is ruined, and now he's sorry.
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 5:54PM
dutch said...SO..... FORGIVE HIM
4-11-2011 @ 3:52PM
Aaron Allen said..."So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; MALE and FEMALE He created them. (Genesis 1:27)". "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: 'He catches the wise in their craftiness' (I Corinthians 3:19)". "because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing (themselves) to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:21-22)". "And even as they did like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting (Romans 1:28)".
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 4:05PM
madge said...ridiculous..how can someone make a decision that important at age 12?!
4-11-2011 @ 4:18PM
Lita said...Save it for church, Lurch. While I think this is a bit young to make these changes (unless the child is born with what is known as ambiguous genitalia), this is a personal family decision and is none of our business. You have no more right to force your beliefs on people in this predicament than they have to for you to have your little manhood symbol removed. If this offends you, then don't undergo gender reassignment surgery. It's that simple. Oh, and by the way, sometimes people are born externally male while internally having some female internal organs and, of course, vice versa. How does that fit into your little Bible sayings that you are so wont to quote (as opposed to how life actually is)?
6-03-2011 @ 1:34AM
ashiraladonai said..." How does that fit into your little Bible sayings that you are so wont to quote (as opposed to how life actually is)?"
Actually his quotes suit the situation. They are in keeping w/ reality. We all have our weaknesses in life, & for some, they entail sexual challenges. No one in life is strong in & of themselves. Christ died for them, too. How's that for a reality check...? ;-)
John 3:16-17
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
4-11-2011 @ 7:01PM
Emily said...HAHA, you believe in "god".
4-11-2011 @ 9:58PM
michael_p_ducote said...I believe in God. Not in a religious god who is a male, (all religious gods are male) and who made man in his "image" and had a son, who is also God. Remember the 1st commandment? One God and ONLY one God.
Religious god has hands, legs, arms and other human stuff? Why wasn't toilet tissue, fingernail files, razors, bathtubs etc. invented 2000 years ago.
Why would the most intelligent entity ever, want people to say weird prayers to him/her, rather than talk in a routine manner.
I talk to my God often, daily. I don't involve anyone else in our conversation.
I'm not particularly interested in other's agreement or disagreement in my opinion. It's mine. I like it.
4-11-2011 @ 8:43PM
Aaron Allen said...Of course! All the planets, stars, insects, animals, people, you, me, it's all an accident. It wasn't designed with any mindful plan or purpose. But if that is the case then every thought, word or action you have ever taken is also an accident that has no plan, purpose or design. Because according to evolution, the champion of accidental cause and effect, a thing can only produce after it's own kind. Therefore an accident can only produce more accidents. But you know as well as I do that what I just said is utter foolishness. But is this any less foolish than your pretense that you were not designed by a Creator who had an awesome plan and purpose in mind when He designed you.
Come on people! It's time to stop drinking the evolution koolaid!
4-11-2011 @ 9:00PM
Charles said..."Hate the sin ... not the person! All the Bible-Thumpers and their Scripture quoting ... make me sick!!!! Who are we to pass judgement on others? As far as I am concerned ... only GOD has that power. JUDGE NOT ... LEST THEE BE JUDGED !!!
4-11-2011 @ 9:51PM
Aaron Allen said..."When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself." (Ezekiel 3:18-19)
4-11-2011 @ 3:56PM
Aaron Allen said..."So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; MALE and FEMALE He created them. (Genesis 1:27)". "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: 'He catches the wise in their craftiness' (I Corinthians 3:19)". "because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing (themselves) to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:21-22)". "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting (Romans 1:28)".
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 4:57PM
Aaron Allen said...When someone is confronted with truth that they do not like, they will find it pointless to undermine the truth since the truth speaks for itself. Instead, they typically resort to that age old strategy of attacking the messenger.
4-11-2011 @ 4:10PM
What?! said...Stop abusing the children. Most gays and lesbians were abused while growing up. End of story.
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 4:42PM
getagrip said...No they weren't. That is a backwards, incorrect, supposed "fact" that only people with no education still believe.
4-11-2011 @ 7:54PM
fanetiks said...Wow. I thought I'd heard it all. I am 66 years old and was very active in the gay-rights movement in the 60s and 70s, but that's a new one on me. How do such crazy ideas originate?
4-11-2011 @ 8:03PM
Jean Bailey said...Yeah. Abused by straight men. Pedofiles, that is!
4-11-2011 @ 4:20PM
Brandy said...Most children realize they are different at a very young age, usually around the age of 6, they realize that although their bodies are genetically female, they have the brain of a male. So this article doesn't come as a surprise to me. (The love of my life happens to be transgendered, it isn't about the 'hardware' or 'plumbing' for me, it's about how someone's personality is and how you click with someone...)
To the person who brought their religion into this... please... spare those of us who have OPEN minds. And lordgamble... would you rather your child be unhappy as the sex they were born as? What if YOU were that person who was born female but knew you were meant to be male? Please do your research and quit being ignorant. Educate yourselves!
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 4:21PM
Rob said...Should be a law against giving children these drugs. Especially when they aren't even old enough to make those decisions. Plus aren't there more pressing diseases that these idiots could put their efforts on curing?
Reply