AFLDS files amicus brief with Supreme Court against medical mutilation for kids
Civil rights group America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) last week filed a brief of amici curiae with the US Supreme Court in United States v. Skrmetti, a landmark case that will determine whether states can ban so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors.
The lawsuit was filed by the Department of Justice against the State of Tennessee after the state’s legislature passed SB1 last year. The new law prohibits healthcare providers from performing any procedures on children to promote a “gender identity.” A physician or hospital that gives a child puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or performs sex change surgery can face a $25,000 fine per violation, professional discipline, and civil lawsuits.
The Biden-Harris administration is arguing that the ban violates the 14th Amendment by discriminating based on sex, even though the law applies to male and female minors equally. The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case, and a decision is expected by July 2025.
America’s Frontline Doctors, which promotes medical freedom, has been championing the fight against “gender-affirming care,” which many consider medical mutilation. On October 14th, the group filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court supporting Tennessee’s ban on medical mutilation procedures for kids.
‘Children cannot give informed consent’
In the brief, AFLDS cited overwhelming evidence that these procedures often sterilize children, deprive them of sexual satisfaction in adulthood, and cause serious psychological and emotional harm. The organization argued that children who undergo such medical mutilation are incapable of giving informed consent, just as no healthcare provider would accept a child’s “informed consent” to be sterilized. Even if a parent approves such procedures, no law allows someone to approve sterilization on behalf of someone else.
“Our laws on the books for informed consent are very clear and must be enforced,” AFLDS Founder and President Dr. Simone Gold said in a press release. “Children cannot give informed consent. This responsibility has been entrusted to the parent. However, there is no common law precedent that allows someone to consent to the medical mutilation of another. No third party, not parent nor government, can empower a minor to consent to medical mutilation. All of the childhood procedures happening right now are illegal because no person can legally grant ‘permission’ to cause lifelong health complications and sterility for another person.”
The group’s attorney, David Dalia, explained that he is “appalled” that children are being subjected to these procedures to treat gender dysphoria, which 85% of them outgrow.
“There’s an alarming likelihood that these minor children will bitterly regret these mutilations,” Dalia said. “Studies show that as many as 85% of children grow out of gender dysphoria! As I learned the reality of ‘gender-affirming care,’ I became appalled. These surgeries and treatments are grotesque, and lead to a lifetime of medications, medical complications, repeat surgeries and regret. Surgeon Dr. Eithan Haim said: ‘they are offering a physiological solution to a psychological problem.’ States routinely regulate other dangerous surgeries and treatments like psychosurgery, child sterilizations, genital mutilations and euthanasia.”
The amicus brief is reportedly one of 52 that support the State of Tennessee.
