“Here’s the medical guidance we just got from Jen Psaki,” Carlson said. “Slicing off a child’s sex organs, preventing a 12-year-old from going through puberty, that’s not ghoulish and dangerous and horrifying. No, it’s not. It’s ‘gender affirming health care.’ Indeed, it’s all we’re now calling a best practice.”
Gender-affirming care for trans and nonbinary minors is supported by major medical organizations — including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association — who say restrictions on such care put the wellbeing of young people at risk.
A recent Human Rights Campaign report found that a large majority of American adults believe transgender people deserve equal rights under the law and protection from discrimination or violence, though their perception of trans and nonbinary people was heavily influenced by where they get their news.
Just over 30 percent of adults who said they regularly consumed right-leaning news, like Fox News or Newsmax, said trans people should have equal treatment under the law.
Carlson on Friday also cited a longitudinal study commissioned by the National Health Service (NHS) in the U.K. which he alleged found little evidence that using puberty blockers helps young people struggling with their gender identity.
The study, published last year in the journal PLOS one, actually found that, overall, participants’ experience using puberty blockers was positive and “there were no unexpected adverse events.”
“We identified no changes in psychological function, quality of life or degree of gender dysphoria,” researchers wrote. They added that more research was needed to “fully quantify” the positive and negative effects of puberty blockers.
Carlson said the study had found that children on puberty blockers experienced stunted growth, weaker bones and had “measurably lower” IQs, which is not true.