A bill introduced in the Illinois House of Representatives would legally define it as ‘child abuse’ for parents to object to gender transitioning of their children by way of puberty blocking, cross sex hormones or surgery.
The legislation, Bill 4876, introduced earlier this month, would also protect doctors from liability should they decide to prescribe those treatments to children who have not gotten parental consent.
The legislation would also allow for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to take children away from their parents for opposing such procedures.
The legislation also allows for minors to be afforded the same legal status as adults when it comes to abortion.
The text of the bill states “consent to the performance of abortion services and gender-affirming services executed by a minor is not voidable because of such minority.”
It further notes that “a health care professional rendering abortion services and gender-affirming services shall not incur civil or criminal liability for failure to obtain valid consent or professional discipline for failure to obtain valid consent if the health care professional relied in good faith on representations made by the minor.”
Activist group Awake Illinois has launched a campaign against the legislation, dubbing it “anti-parent” and “anti-child.” Founder Shannon Adcock urged action against the “incredibly radical” bill, noting “In Illinois, parents who are considered child abusers can lose custody of their children if in this case they do not affirm transgender drugs, surgical procedures such as penis and breast removal.”
“If a minor opts for this, and you as a parent deny that, that means that you are considered an abuser of a child,” Adcock further warned.
The maximum punishment for ‘child abuse’ in Illinois is $25,000 in fines and 15 years in prison.
Appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast this week, Dr. Phil (McGraw)” slammed gender surgeries on children, pointing to a dearth of long-term studies.
“All the major medical associations have signed off on this, Joe,” McGraw said, adding
“I have never seen those organisations sign off on anything with less information as to whether or not it does long-term harm of anything in my life. And when I ask about that, when I bring that up, then they immediately label you as transphobic.”
* * *