Four-star admiral and Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, the highest transgender official to serve in the US Government, claimed in remarks shared Saturday with NPR that all pediatricians agree on “gender-affirming care,” which can include puberty-blocking drugs all the way up to non-reversible surgical procedures.

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.

NEW: Biden admin transgender extremist attacks parents and legislators seeking to protect children from radical ideology which includes surgeries and hormone treatments. https://t.co/KDDORLekMX #FoxNews

— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) May 1, 2022

Clearly, not everyone agrees.

The US Department of Health defines the phrase in a recent fact sheet:

Gender-affirming care is a supportive form of healthcare. It consists of an array of services that may include medical, surgical, mental health, and non-medical services for transgender and nonbinary people.

For transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents, early gender affirming care is crucial to overall health and well-being as it allows the child or adolescent to focus on social transitions and can increase their confidence while navigating the healthcare system.

There is in fact plenty of debate about the efficacy and safety of “gender-affirming” care, especially for the young, and to say otherwise is a flat-out falsehood. It’s a preposterous statement given that the Florida State Department of Health recently came to the opposite conclusion, issuing its own guidance on April 20 which is completely at odds with Levine’s takeaways. In Florida’s view:

• Social gender transition should not be a treatment option for children or adolescents.
• Anyone under 18 should not be prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapy.
• Gender reassignment surgery should not be a treatment option for children or adolescents.
• Based on the currently available evidence, “encouraging mastectomy, ovariectomy, uterine extirpation, penile disablement, tracheal shave, the prescription of hormones which are out of line with the genetic make-up of the child, or puberty blockers, are all clinical practices which run an unacceptably high risk of doing harm.”
• Children and adolescents should be provided social support by peers and family and seek
counseling from a licensed provider.

The Sunshine State asserts that it’s making these recommendations based on studies and recommendations from Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom, and France. Levine quickly dismissed their views as being “based upon political considerations” and “not appropriate.”

There many are other critics of gender-affirming care, including Abigail Shrier, author of the book “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters” which was banned from Target for a time. She writes:

Until just a few years ago, gender dysphoria—severe discomfort in one’s biological sex—was vanishingly rare. It was typically found in less than .01 percent of the population, emerged in early childhood, and afflicted males almost exclusively.

But today whole groups of female friends in colleges, high schools, and even middle schools across the country are coming out as “transgender.” These are girls who had never experienced any discomfort in their biological sex until they heard a coming-out story from a speaker at a school assembly or discovered the internet community of trans “influencers.”

Unsuspecting parents are awakening to find their daughters in thrall to hip trans YouTube stars and “gender-affirming” educators and therapists who push life-changing interventions on young girls—including medically unnecessary double mastectomies and puberty blockers that can cause permanent infertility.

Then there’s the website, Sex Change Regret, where people who are remorseful over their transitions come to share their stories. Many of them feel they were pushed to transition by doctors and medical health professionals, and they’d like to see the subject viewed through the lens of science, not activism. The site claims that up to 20% of transitioners “have regrets.”

A 2018 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics details some of the concerns that the Biden administration seems to dismiss:

Moreover, although available data describing the use of gender-affirming treatment options are encouraging, and the risks of not treating TGNC youth with gender dysphoria are evident, little is known about the long-term effects of both hormonal and surgical interventions in this population.

Gender transitions and gender affirmation may be helpful to some people. Dr. Levine seems happy and successful, and that’s all good. When we’re talking about life-changing decisions being made by the very young, however, it’s ludicrous to say “everyone agrees” or the “science is settled.” Whenever the left utters either of those phrases, they mean, shut up and don’t ask questions.

Regarding hormone blockers and irreversible surgeries, every question should be asked, long-term effects should be evaluated, and rigorous studies should be continuous. Dr. Levine is plain wrong—there is no consensus on gender-confirming care for the young. In fact, there is plenty of healthy debate, as there should be.