Planned Parenthood Attacks Montana Bill Protecting Minors from Gender Transition Procedures
Planned Parenthood is America's second biggest provider of hormone therapy
Planned Parenthood testified against a Montana bill proposal that protects minors from getting life-altering gender transition procedures.
Senate Bill (SB) 164 would charge parents or legal guardians with child abuse if they knowingly procure or help a child who is under 16 years old with treatments that alter the “appearance of the child” or affirm “the child's perception of the child's sex when the appearance or perception is inconsistent with the child's biological sex.”
If someone were convicted of this crime, the individual would face five years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
State Senator John Fuller (R-Kallispell) told The Montana Chronicles last week that he introduced this bill because “protecting children is the right thing to do.”
“What someone does as an adult is their business, but as a child, we have all kinds of things that we don't allow children to do. This is one of the most dangerous,” he said.
Quinn Leighton, the director of External Affairs at Planned Parenthood of Montana, testified against this bill on Monday.
“We rise in strong opposition to SB 164 on behalf of Montana’s trans youth, supportive families and medical providers,” Leighton said.
“This should not come as a surprise, but it does need repeating. This bill is an egregious overreach into the private life of transgender youth [and] their supportive families,” Leighton added.
Leighton also said “SB 164 could discourage young Montanans from talking to their parents.”
“We all want young people in our state to be safe and healthy. This bill does not serve that goal. Instead, it will create new barriers for minors in accessing healthcare, deter young people from speaking honestly with trusted adults and their medical providers,” Leighton said.
“Young Montanans know who they are and what they need. To simply ignore that is dangerous,” Leighton added.
As an organization, Planned Parenthood makes a lot of money nationally from providing gender transition procedures. The organization says it is the “second largest provider of hormone therapy” in America. Some Planned Parenthood locations around the country provide this type of treatment to kids under 18 years old.
Furthermore, the country’s “sex reassignment surgery” market is projected to grow 11.2 percent from 2023 to 2030, according to Grand View Research.
Another place that offers gender transition procedures for people in Montana, Bridgercare, opposed SB 164. This nonprofit only does gender transition procedures for people over 18. However, “no counseling or letters from a mental health provider are required” to start sex-change procedures.
Shawn Reagor, who is the LGBTQ+ Allies Coordinator for Bridgercare, said that “the government has no place inserting itself between parents, teens and their trusted healthcare providers.”
Reagor added, “This bill would force Montanan families to deny their teens essential healthcare recommended by major medical associations or leave the state to access this care.”
The Bridgercare representative also said that the nonprofit has seen “firsthand” how access to gender transition procedures “saves lives and improves mental health outcomes.”
Speaking in his own individual capacity, Reagor said that transgender people who receive gender transition procedures are thriving.
“We are who we are meant to be. We are active members of your community. We are voters. We participate in the civic process. We pay taxes, and by being able to access this care, we are able to more fully be ourselves. Removing this care would be an injustice to us and the people that support us and to the state as a whole.”
On the opposite side, Derek Oestreicher, Montana Family Foundation’s chief legal counsel, said the foundation “strongly supports” the bill.
“This bill would make it a crime to provide or procure surgical procedures, puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones for children.”
Oestreicher said this bill proposal is critical to protecting Montana children “from harmful and irreversible medical interventions.”
“This bill recognizes the need for caution in addressing the deeply complex and personal experience of gender dysphoria,” he said. “It ensures that children are not subjected to experimental treatments with life-altering consequences.”
“Puberty blockers can cause lasting damage to bone density and brain development. Cross-sex hormones can lead to irreversible changes like infertility, cardiovascular issues and life-long dependence on synthetic hormones,” the lawyer added. “Surgical procedures permanently alter the body that cannot be undone.”
He said “because children are not equipped to make life-altering decisions with irreversible consequences, the adults who are making these decisions on their behalf must be held accountable under the law.”
Erin Laws, the founder of Montana Medical Freedom Alliance, said that the recent state and general elections “gave a clear mandate” to America and Montana “to return to commonsense and our traditional values.”
“This includes the care of transgenderism in our youth,” she said.
Laws said that America has not been forthcoming about releasing data about gender treatments.
She cited Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, who was given a $10 million grant from the federal government to study the effectiveness of puberty blockers in minors.
The doctor refused to release the results of the study because the study found no evidence of minors improving their mental health on puberty blockers.
“Many youth that have undergone gender treatment have not been helped and are now suing the health care practitioners that caused them harm,” Laws said.
A former patient is suing Olson-Kennedy for pushing her into gender transition procedures.
“This bill is important no matter what side of the fence you are on with gender treatment. Despite what the media and gender ideologues say, many minors have been harmed, and it is time to give them a voice and hold those endangering them accountable,” Laws said.
A 2023 study done by The Washington Post shows the majority of Americans disapprove of gender transition procedures for minors.
The Montana Senate Judiciary Committee did not take action on this bill Monday.
- - -
Zachery Schmidt is the founder of The Montana Chronicles. If you have any tips, please send them to montanachronicles@proton.me.