Various states have moved to allow children to secure birth control without the knowledge or notification of parents, including schools that reportedly will implant IUDs in children as young as sixth graders. Oregon however is going further still and reportedly allowed 15-year-olds to get a sex-change operation at state expense under its Medicaid program. What is curious is that Oregon officials are thus far refusing to discuss the program with media despite its obvious importance to the citizens of the state. If these reports are inaccurate, we should hear it directly from these officials. If this story is true, we are witnessing a significant change in our notion of parental rights without even a passing conversation over the basis and scope of such changes.
I have long been a critic of moves to exclude parents from notification of such procedures as abortions as a violation of parental rights. The idea that a child might be able to get such a sex-change operation without notification, let alone approval, of parents is astonishing. The notion that your son could return your daughter without notice is like a scene out of some sitcom.
Yet, Oregon Health Authority spokeswoman Susan Wickstrom said that the age of medical consent is set by state law and that age is 15 in Oregon. That allows the teenager to secure a sex-change operation and seek state coverage from the Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC). Since gender dysphoria is classified by the American Psychiatric Association as a mental disorder in which a person identifies as the sex opposite of his or her birth, the basis for refuse such an operation may be limited.
We have been discussing how medical and psychiatric experts are now approving the raising of boys and girls as young as five as the opposite gender. This obviously is a much more permanent course of change.
Nevertheless, Jenn Burleton, founder of the Portland non-profit group TransActive, insists that requiring parental consent would lead to more stress and even suicide: “Parents may not be supportive. They may not be in an environment where they feel the parent will affirm their identity, this may have been going on for years.” That is certainly true. However, they also may be supportive. They are a family and the parents raised this child.
It is important to note that a long list of criteria must still be met for such approval to occur. However, it is the lack of parental involvement that concerns me the most.
HERC estimates that as many as 112 Oregon kids may be gender dysphoric. The cost of cross-sex hormone therapy, puberty-suppressing drugs and sex reassignment surgeries are expected to be as high as $150,000 per year. However, HERC argues that the costs must be balanced against the education in suicides. It predicts that procedures will avoid one suicide a year with an average cost per suicide attempt in the U.S. is $7,234. Putting aside the merits of the program as a whole, that type of cost-benefit arguments seems highly questionable and illusory in my view. That does not mean that this program cannot be defended on medical or psychiatric grounds, but I do not believe that these are costs that are easily compared or measured.
In the end, we need to have a long-delayed discussion about parental rights in this nation for the array of different procedures and services for children without the notice or consent of parents.
What do you think?
Can minors get tattoos, in a legit tattoo studio, without parental consent? Tattoos, no. Gender reassignment, yes.
Kids do belong to their families, their families are responsible for them. I don’t know who would take the blame if things went sideways in a case like this, because literally you can do it behind the parent’s back. Having said that, would the parent’s still be financially responsible or would the state or the child?
It is interesting that NO ONE is deemed responsible enough to decide whether they want to carry health insurance yet a 15 year old has been determined mature enough to physically transform themselves from one gender identity to another.
Annie:
“Karen, I think those requirements for Emancipation and Mature Minor Exemptions might be in sttates other than Oregon and Alabama, where age of consent is 15.”
Right. Which is why we’re talking about the problem of young medical consent ages not requiring emancipation, and cutting parents out of the process. That’s the whole point.
Maineuh,
It’s not so strange when you consider there are posters here that believe ALL rights come from government.
It sure is a Brave New World. It’s funny that there are posters here who refuse to believe that there’s anything to this story. Why, it’s outlandish. They would NEVER think of doing something like this. Right?
“I have long felt that we need a single age of majority. Currently, we can consent to medical procedures at 15, vote, get married, and join the military at 18, drink alcohol at 21, but not rent a car until 25. God forbid we make a bad decision on our car rental, but we can get married and go serve overseas, given the responsibility of a firearm.
I wish we would just pick one age for when we are considered an adult and capable of making adult decisions.”
**************************
I thought conservatives wanted to allow the states to make these types of laws for themselves. State’s right sort of thing.
Good news. I swapped out my primary physician for an Indian Shaman located in the Amazon jungle. He always takes care of pain and suffering.
Kind of like an oil & filter change. Not sure if treatment is billable or covered under ACA.
Karen, I think those requirements for Emancipation and Mature Minor Exemptions might be in sttates other than Oregon and Alabama, where age of consent is 15.
Turley’s ‘Tabloid Friday Edidition’
Full net
“The age of consent in Oregon has been 15 for quite sometime, this isn’t new.”
THAT’S THE POINT! The issue of age of consent seems benign until something like this rears its ugly head and by then it’s too late. The feds using public education to indoctrinate OUR children would not have been feasible in 1978 and now it’s too late. 18th century colonists didn’t wake up to find the laundry list of grievances against the King had been implemented overnight. This is how we lose our rights as citizens, not in one fell swoop but incrementally over time. I’d say study history but that would require one be prepared to admit they have been wrong.
My mother was old enough to get married to her life partner, but not old enough to drink alcohol on her honeymoon.
So far, I have not read that Oregon requires a minor to be emancipated as part of the medical consent age of 15. In fact, states with young medical consent ages appear to expressly circumvent that emancipation requirement.
I do not agree with several states allowing medical consent at 14 or 15 years of age, for many reasons. It is undisputed that many children of that age may not make rational decisions with an eye to future consequences.
One of my specific concerns about the “rights” of young children to birth control is that this prevents the parent from being informed they are sexually active using only birth control, and not a condom. They are never given the chance to explain to their child that this will not protect them from HIV and other STDs, other than what they heard in health class.
I hate this trend that it’s none of the parents’ business what their kids are doing.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/456472_7
Mature Minor Exemption
Under the mature minor exception, a minor may consent to receive medical care without parental consent or notification if the court determines that the minor has the maturity to make independent decisions. A minor may seek medical care without parental consent if she can convince the court that she is mature enough to act in her own best interest and thus make an independent judgment to consent to treatment.[18, 19] Once a finding has been made in court that a minor is sufficiently mature enough to act in her own best interest and make an independent judgment to consent to treatment, it is unconstitutional for judicial authorization to be withheld.[18, 19, 22] The process that allows the minor to be declared a mature minor is known as judicial bypass. Judicial bypass has consistently allowed minors another option to consent for care in states with parental notification or parental consent requirements for adolescents seeking abortion. The Supreme Court ruled in 1990 that judicial bypass is constitutionally required if state law requires parental notification or consent.[23] Opponents of judicial bypass believe the process of seeking judicial bypass places an undue burden on adolescents seeking abortion.[24] The determination of maturity provides sufficient authorization for a minor to exercise her right to privacy without confirmation by third parties.[25]
Emancipated Minors
Unlike the mature minor, state statutes define an emancipated minor. Although state statutes vary, there are many similarities between the different states and their definition of an emancipated minor. Generally, the youth must be a minimum age, usually 16 years old, live apart form her parents, and be economically self-sufficient.[28] Definitions of an emancipated minor include those who are self-supporting and not living at home, married, pregnant or a parent, in the military, declared emancipated by the court.[28]
Penelope:
I have long felt that we need a single age of majority. Currently, we can consent to medical procedures at 15, vote, get married, and join the military at 18, drink alcohol at 21, but not rent a car until 25. God forbid we make a bad decision on our car rental, but we can get married and go serve overseas, given the responsibility of a firearm.
I wish we would just pick one age for when we are considered an adult and capable of making adult decisions.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/456472_3
“Laws that affect the minor’s right to consent to medical care have been developed under the precedent of parental autonomy.[4, 11, 14] In adolescents under the age of majority who receive health care services, the American Academy of Pediatrics has a long-standing policy statement encouraging physicians and parents to include adolescents in the decision-making process, but the parental autonomy and parental right to give consent for a minor is the standard.[8]
There are several components of informed consent that are important to consider, especially when caring for adolescents. First, patients should have explanations in understandable language, including the potential risks and benefits of the proposed treatment. Second, the provider should assess the patient’s understanding of the information given to them. Third, the provider should assess the patient’s ability to make the necessary decision. Finally, the provider should determine that the patient is not coerced into a particular medical alternative.[19] Empirical data indicate 14 year olds may have well-developed decisional skills and are capable of complex decisions. Their ability to give informed consent, however, may be limited by law.[8]
Minors’ Rights to Give Informedconsent for Reproductive Health Care Services
A few states broadly interpret consent laws to allow the minor to authorize any type of medical care. For example in 1995, Oregon Revised Statutes §109.640 grant that a minor 15 years of age or older may give consent to hospital care, medical or surgical diagnosis or treatment “… without the consent of a parent or guardian …” Alabama has a similar statute for any minor 14 years or older. However, in most states, only the parents can give consent for a minor’s medical care.[4, 8, 17, 18]
In the past, lawmakers have resisted attempts to impose parental consent or notification requirement on minors’ access to reproductive services, with the exception of abortion.[13] Many states authorize minors to sign a written consent for contraceptive services, testing, and treatment for HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases, prenatal care and delivery services, treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, outpatient and mental health care.”
A sex change operation is far beyond what could reasonably be defined as “medical treatment.” I would think that medical treatment contemplates first aid or medication needed to return the patient back to the condition he was in prior to injury or illness, to the extent possible. A teen who is injured playing sports, for example, should be able to consent to treatment without having to track down a parent. As noted above, however, the Am Psychiatric Assn classifies gender dysphoria as a MENTAL disorder. Thus, a teen should be allowed psychiatric help, if desired, but major surgery and hormone treatments are not a normal course of treatment for mental or emotional problems. It is well documented that hormone treatments can cause cancer and have other serious long-term negative medical effects. I can’t imagine a teen being allowed to give informed consent for something that risky, as well as something so permanent as having his/her “private parts” removed. One of these nights I will likely see a t.v. pitchman saying, “Did the State of Oregon cut-off your dong when you were a teen? Call 1-800-BAD-LAWS.”
Nick,
We will become one big village full of idiots by the time this transformation is complete.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/420896/massive-government-overreach-obamas-affh-rule-out-stanley-kurtz
The age of consent in Oregon has been 15 for quite sometime, this isn’t new.