Transgender youth
The article “For transgender youth, stigma is just one barrier to health care” in the New York Times highlights the difficulties that young transgender youth face when trying to access health care. One of the biggest issues they face when seeking health care is consent, minors have to get the consent of their parents to start gender-affirming treatments, but many obstacles stand between them and this treatment ( Imbler, 2021). When accessing health care, many youths are often denied and are told that it is just a face.
Although major medical associations including the American academy of pediatrics endorse gender affirming treatments for adolescent’s, opponents of gender-affirming health care claim that minors should not be allowed to transition as they may grow out of it. In 2021, twenty states across the country introduced bills that sought to prohibit and restrict treatment for minors. Pediatrics are alarmed at the bills that are being advanced in many states across the country against gender affirming treatments for transgender youths (beers, n.d.), they affirm that restricting medical care for the under age can only serve to harm their mental health. Studies have shown that transgender youth suffer from depression and are also at high risk to self-harm. According to Durwood et al social transitioned children depression rate does not differ from their non-transgender peers.
References
Imbler, S. (2021, sept 28) for transgender youth, stigma is just one barrier to health care. New York times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/health/transgender-health-care.html
Beers. L. (n.d). American academy of pediatrics speaks out against bills harming transgender youth. https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases/aap/2021/american-academy-of-pediatrics-speaks-out-against-bills-harming-transgender-youth/
Durwood, L., Mclaughlin, K, A., Olson, K, R. (2017). Mental health and self-worth in socially transitioned transgender youth. Journal of the American academy of child and adolescent psychiatry,56(2), 116-123. https://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/apa-referencing/7JournalArticles
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