Forced Participation in Gender-Reassignment Treatment Challenged in New Lawsuit, Reports the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)

TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 25, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, the states of Texas, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Wisconsin are standing up for the right of physicians to decline to participate in transgender treatments that are against their conscience, reports the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS).

The suit follows the recent federal injunction in Texas v. United States, Civil Action No. 7:16-cv-00054-O, by the Northern District of Texas court, Wichita Falls Division. This properly blocked the Obama Administration from mandating unlimited access to the public school bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms of their choice by persons claiming to be transgender. Issued on the eve of public schools opening in Texas, the ruling will help protect the privacy of students against invasion into the most intimate areas of school by members of the opposite sex.

The court ruled that the Administration had not invited and reviewed comments by the public before issuing its regulations. Additionally, it observed that Congress itself allowed differences in treatment of males and females when it passed Title IX in 1972.

The Administration's next step in its "anti-discrimination" agenda is to compel physicians and other medical professionals to participate in sex-change operations and treatments, even of minors.

"These procedures include use of puberty-blocking drugs. They are potentially harmful and life-changing," states AAPS executive director Jane Orient, M.D. "Moreover, most teenagers who may identify as members of the opposite sex will outgrow those feelings without the need for medical intervention," she observes, citing a study by the American Psychiatric Association published at Am. Psychiatric Ass'n, Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 455 (5th ed. 2013).

"Now that students are protected by court order, it is time to protect physicians and other medical workers too," declared AAPS general counsel Andrew Schlafly. "There is a long tradition of respect for rights of conscience in our country."

"Conscience forbids physicians to participate in treatments they believe to be harmful, as well as those they consider immoral, or treatments to which a person cannot give informed consent because of age," Dr. Orient stated.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in virtually all specialties and every state. Founded in 1943, AAPS has the motto "omnia pro aegroto," which means "all for the patient."

SOURCE Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)

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