A new Heritage Foundation study reports that state policies facilitating minors’ access to gender-related medical interventions is, contrary to what is frequently claimed, associated with higher rates of suicide.
In the United States, 33 states and Washington, D.C., allow minors to access medical care without parental consent. These provisions do not fall along partisan lines, and they were originally put into place before gender transitioning became a hot-button issue. Heritage’s study found that around 2010, when transition-related interventions became more readily available, states with provisions allowing minors to access healthcare without parental or guardian consent had higher rates of suicide among young people than other states. By contrast, a similar increase in suicides was not found among individuals over the age of 18 during this time period, who would have been unaffected by these policies.
The study has faced predictable criticism from some media outlets alleging that its findings are spurious. Critics also suggest that “gender-affirming care” improves mental health and lowers suicide risk. But an alternative explanation that accounts for these results would need to explain why there has been an uptick in suicides among minors beginning in 2010. A trend that has continued to increase over time in states facilitating easier access to healthcare for youth.
This subject is especially pressing at a time when states including Florida, Alabama, and Texas are implementing legislation banning pediatric access to transition-related treatment and investigating families that allow their children to undergo it. At the same time, policies are also being enacted to allow a child to override parental resistance. California recently passed a law preventing insurance companies from disclosing to parents if a child on their policy receives services related to gender-affirming care.
To frame any opposition as a “right-wing” concern is disingenuous and does not constitute a scientific rebuttal. As with any other issue, children do not tend to make positive decisions without parental guidance. Moreover, the evidence supporting “desistence” (the idea that most children outgrow gender dysphoria) reiterates why transition should not be the first line of support for these children.
The concept of suicide contagion suggests that exposure to suicidal behaviors or related media reports can lead to an increase in these behaviors, particularly among young adults and adolescents. Repeatedly telling gender-variant children and their families that without transitioning, a child is at a high risk of suicide runs the risk of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Dr. Debra Soh is a sex neuroscientist, the host of The Dr. Debra Soh Podcast, and the author of The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths About Sex and Identity in Our Society.
