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It sounds like arguing semantics to me. If one hand the public health administration is removing obstacles, and on the other the education system is telling kids they might be "born in the wrong body" if they don't fit into a given mold, and than hide the information about the child's transition from parents, that sounds like it all adds up to putting children on a path to transition.
Draft of SOC8:
vs. published SOC8
There's also points A-E, but everything about minimum ages has been removed.
Edit: I think they mention the 18 years for phalloplasty when they elaborate on the chapter.
So, again, for starters: none of that is mutilation, just regular surgery.
Second, right there in the guidelines: this is the section for adolescents. Children is section 7. When your actual source makes the distinction between kids and teenagers, I feel like it's a bit disingenuous to keep calling them "kids"
Third, that's the section on "treatments requested by the patient". It's not putting someone on a path when they are already on that path and merely asking for help.
I don't see how this is different from anyone else trying to get medical treatment for their illness. Would you be horrified to learn that we also let children be treated for cancer and depression? Should there be a minimum age for those, too?
Unnecessary surgery that removes healthy body parts is mutilation, as are unnecessary hormonal treatments.
When people say "kids" they mean "minors", performing these treatments on even younger children is even worse, but a mastectomy performed on a 16 year old girl is still atrocious.
No one cares, the patient is a minor that doesn't know anything about what they're talking about.
There is no evidence that any illness is involved. The only criteria necessary to get a dysphoria diagnosis is:
Say you're trans
Don't change your mind for a few months
Even those loose criteria aren't always followed.
Cancer has proper diagnostic criteria, so no on that, but if a doctor insisted I have to give drugs to 14 year old for "depression" (or "anxiety" or ADHD) I'd find it absurd.
Probably. Psychology is very unrigorous, and we should not let these kind of doctors make decisions about children, that go against the wishes of parents.
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