DeSantis says he would ban medical gender transitions for children in Florida

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Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would ban sex changes for minors in his state. 

On Monday's installment of "The Truth with Lisa Boothe" podcast, DeSantis was asked about the recent guidance released by the Florida Department of Health discouraging anyone below the age of 18 from gender transition surgery, puberty blockers and hormones. 

"Would you support a state law banning any of those medical interventions for children?" Boothe asked. 

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"I would ban the... Yeah, I would ban the sex-change... the operations," DeSantis responded. "I think that it's something that you can't get a tattoo if you're 12 years old. When they say gender-affirming care, what they mean a lot of times is you are really- you're castrating a young boy, you're sterilizing a young girl, you're doing mastectomies for these very young girls. And here's the thing, what our guidance pointed to, and the Surgeon General did a great job, for these young kids, 80% of the cases resolve themselves as they grow up. And so you're doing things that are permanently altering them, and then they're not gonna be able to reverse that."

U.S. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, U.S. February 24, 2022. On Wednesday, DeSantis blamed President Biden's handling of the border and soft-on-crime policies for the death of a Florida married couple by a Hatian citizen. (Reuters)

The governor continued, "And, so I don't think it's appropriate for kids at all. I think the guidance is right, but I think that there should be additional protections. ‘Cause you’re growing up, there are things that- it's an awkward time, and it seems like there's a concerted effort in society to push these kids in to do some type of medical intervention. And in our judgment, that's not healthy."

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Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine, the highest-ranking transgender person in the U.S. government, recently claimed "there is no argument" about "gender-affirming care" among pediatricians and doctors who specialize in adolescents.

"There is no argument among medical professionals – pediatricians, pediatric endocrinologists, adolescent medicine physicians, adolescent psychiatrists, psychologists, etc. – about the value and the importance of gender-affirming care," Levine told NPR.

 U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Rachel Levine.  ((Joe Hermitt/The Patriot-News via AP, File))

According to definitions laid out in a fact sheet from Levine's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in March, "gender-affirming care" includes social affirmation at any age, puberty blockers during puberty and hormone therapy starting during early adolescence. Irreversible surgery is "typically used in adulthood or case-by-case basis in adolescence," according to the agency.

Levine dismissed the Florida guidance as "based upon political considerations" and "not appropriate."

"We need to stand against that both from a medical and public health point of view," Levine said.

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DeSantis recently signed the Parental Rights in Education legislation into law that among other things bans the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades kindergarten through third grade. Liberals both in politics and in the media derided the legislation, calling it the "Don't Say Gay" bill despite how such language is not even included in the law. 

Meanwhile, the governor has been clashing with Disney after the House of Mouse injected itself into the education debate amidst a pressure campaign from the left to denounce the legislation. DeSantis and Florida Republicans fired back by stripping Disney's decades-long privileges granted to its Orlando theme park.

Fox News' Jon Brown contributed to this report.