Researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, and FOLX Health say the number of teenagers seeking gender-manipulation services is really quite small, according to their group study released last week.
The report indicates that fewer than one in 1,000 adolescents received “gender-affirming” medications from 2018-2022.
But there’s a catch.
The study only takes in teens covered by commercial insurance. Exactly what this means is unclear since data is scarce.
That is flawed methodology, Dr. Jennifer Bauwens, the Family Research Council’s director for the Center for Family Studies, said on Washington Watch Wednesday.
“Well, if you just read the AP or NPR, you'd think, oh, my goodness, this this giving out puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, is just not really that big a deal. Not that many people are affected. So, if you pay attention to that spin you might be inclined to ignore the problem,” she told show host Tony Perkins.
Bauwens, who holds a Ph.D. from New York University, is an expert on trauma and mental health, including in children. She has warned about transgender ideology, and its harm, in congressional testimony and on Fox News.
A report by National Institutes of Health-affiliated group in 2019 indicated “severely limited coverage for medically necessary transition-related services.”
Even less was known about the insurance landscape for transgender youth, the NIH report said.
That doesn’t mean puberty blockers aren’t being provided to teens in greater numbers than the Harvard folks believe. There’s an active secondary market for such services.
One main provider of puberty blockers to youth is Planned Parenthood. The nation’s leading abortion provider makes puberty blockers available for transgender, intersex and gender nonbinary youth after discussing treatment with their parents or guardians and a healthcare provider, its policies state.
“This has become a huge industry for Planned Parenthood,” Bauwens said.
Medicaid, a health insurance program provide free or low-cost coverage to eligible low-income individuals and families, may provide puberty blockers in states without regulations against such procedures.
The website GoFundMe has been a source for “crowdfunding” for puberty blockers.
Take a lesson from history
History shows that “when you don’t accurately depict your sample you can end up with a very bad impression about what’s going on in reality,” Bauwens said. “And that’s the case with this study.”
Other studies show greater demand for transgender services than what the Harvard group implies, Bauwens said.
“We have other studies that show about 63,000 prescriptions have been written annually. About 6,000 surgeries have been conducted," she advised. "So, what's the discrepancy? Again, going back to they're only looking at private insurers, and they're making these huge claims that this is such a small problem. But in reality, we know that's not true.”
The Harvard study had a desired outcome, Bauwens said.
She noted a previous study by the group that last summer concluded gender-affirming surgeries are rarely performed on transgender youth.
“The authors compare these transgender procedures to a condition in biological men with swollen breast tissue," she said. "They’re saying if somebody wants surgery to remove that breast tissue that may be due to hormone imbalances, that's a type of gender affirming surgery.
“Their whole study is constructed on the notion that somebody who has a physical problem to deal with to cosmetically look more like their biological sex, that constitutes a transgender procedure,” Bauwens said.
Instead, it’s a psychological issue among the teens compared to a physical issue among the men, Bauwens said.
“It's about their ideology and their worldview that they're wanting to (reach) a desired outcome,” she said.
The topic of medical care for transgender teens was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court last month for a case involving Tennessee’s ban on gender-manipulation procedures.
Twenty-six states have adopted such laws and most of those states face lawsuits, according to The Associated Press.
The rush of litigation against those laws compared now against a study that says so few teens are seeking gender treatment and procedures is mixed messaging, Bauwens said.
What has caused the rise?
There are various factors in the rise of gender-confused minors, Bauwens said. Among them are sexual abuse and trauma, exposure to sexually explicit reading material and images and social media. The idea by some that transitioning is cool makes it the first option – as opposed to counseling – to address difficult feelings and confusion.
“Now it's no big deal, but before it was like, how can we do this to so many people? The fact of the matter is we do know that there's been a rise in those who are even getting diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
“That doesn't even count for those who aren't going to clinical practice. There is a clear rise in the number of people, and it’s a problem,” Bauwens said.
