The very definition of ‘family’ is once more at risk as the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has taken legal action against the NHS for not giving transgender teenagers the chance to have children later in life.
The EHRC is now suing NHS England for failing to offer fertility treatment to transgender people, who it argues should be “offered the services as a standard procedure”.
The NHS says that it isn’t its responsibility to ensure that fertility treatment is available to all patients. In fact, individual clinical commissioning groups currently decide whether fertility treatments should be available for patients on the NHS or privately. Despite this, the commission has accused the NHS of ‘discriminating against’ transgender people, arguing that gender dysphoria falls within NHS England’s specialised commissioning remit.
Rebecca Hilsenrath, chief executive of the commission commented: “We are proceeding with our judicial review claim and will remain in discussion with NHS England about the need to ensure the transgender community can access health services free from discrimination, and that individuals do not have to choose between treatment for gender dysphoria and the chance to start a family.”
Concerns over fertility treatments
Surgery to ‘reassign gender’ usually results in a loss of fertility. Yet, given the rise of transgenderism, particularly in teenagers, many say they don’t have the resources to pay for fertility treatments when they begin their ‘reassignment’.
Speaking to the Observer, the mother of a 14-year-old transgender teen said, “it isn’t realistic to expect a child to want to be able to have their own children, so it’s up to the parents to say, ‘we need to preserve that option for them’ so that, when they get to an age when they do want to start thinking about it, at least then they have the choice.”
Of course, fertility treatments bring with them a whole host of concerns. Between 1991 and 2012, 1.7 million fertilised eggs – in various stages of development – were destroyed. And as more and more people turn to IVF, these figures will only increase. If we truly believe that life begins at conception, we must seriously consider the implications of these statistics.
Gender dysphoria – a rising concern
The sad truth is that much of this loss could be avoided. A report published by the Witherspoon Institute, a US research centre, stated that “normally, 80 percent to 95 percent of pre-pubertal youth with GD [gender dysphoria] do not persist in their GD.” Yet the decisions that these teenagers are being asked to make can have irreversible consequences.
Rather than pushing teens towards transgender surgery and offering fertility treatment, we should encourage young people to accept their true identity as made male or female, in the image of God.
Links
Read more about living in a transgender world in the book, The New Normal
Read Leslie Newbigin’s The Gospel in a Pluralist Society
Read more about ex-transgender testimonies