Child psychiatrist opposes transgender procedures for kids in Congress testimony.

A Child Psychiatrist Testifies Against Medical Transgender Hormone Treatments for Children

A child psychiatrist testified to Congress this week against medical transgender hormone treatments for children, delivering a passionate rebuke to doctors who push for the drastic interventions.

Dr. Miriam Grossman, a board-certified child psychiatrist, appeared Wednesday before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health.

Grossman told lawmakers that there is no evidence that puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones are life-saving or medically necessary. In fact, there is a significant risk of harm to children who are put on these hormone regimens, she said.

“There is no evidence of long-term benefit, but there is evidence of harm,” Grossman told the panel.

Grossman said that despite what some physicians claim, there is currently no medical standard for transgender hormone treatments for children.

“There’s a debate. There’s a fierce debate,” she said. “Our precious tax dollars should not support such a perilous experiment.”

Grossman said she has been taking care of patients for 45 years and is also a senior fellow at Do No Harm, a group of doctors and others working to protect healthcare from politicized ideologies.

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During her testimony, Grossman also pushed back on gender ideology itself.

“Sex is not assigned at birth. Sex is established at conception, and it’s recognized at birth if not earlier,” she said. “To claim that sex is assigned at birth is without any scientific basis whatsoever. Its language misleads people, especially children, into thinking that male and female are arbitrary designations and can change.”

Grossman noted that a growing number of countries have restricted transgender medical interventions for children, and there has been “no wave of suicides or other mental health catastrophes” in response to those restrictions — contrary to the predictions of transgender activists.

Finland, Sweden, and Norway have all pumped the brakes on prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for trans-identifying children. Sweden implemented restrictions after a 14-year-old girl on puberty blockers developed osteoporosis and spinal fractures.

The National Health Service of England has also restricted puberty blockers, while France has urged caution in prescribing them.

These countries have concluded that “kids don’t need their development interrupted, the girls don’t need their period stopped and their voices lowered, and the boys don’t need to grow breasts,” Grossman said. “What they need is psychotherapy.”

Many medical professionals have in recent years lent their full-throated support to minors receiving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and in some cases, surgical transitions, which can mean double mastectomies and genital surgery.

Meanwhile, conservatives have sounded the alarm on transgender medical procedures and hormone treatments for children. The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh also interviewed Grossman for The Daily Wire’s documentary “What Is A Woman,” released last year.

Hundreds of teen girls in the U.S., some as young as 12, have gotten elective, gender-related double mastectomies to remove their healthy breasts over the last few years.

Both puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones come with serious health risks. Puberty blockers can affect bone growth and density and cause sexual dysfunction, voice damage, and infertility among other issues. Cross-sex hormones can cause infertility, deadly blood clots, heart attacks, increased cancer risks of the breasts and ovaries, liver dysfunction, worsening psychological illness, and other serious conditions.

Meanwhile, it is more popular than ever for youth to adopt new gender identities. An estimated 300,000 minors aged 13 to 17 identified as transgender as of last year.