Written by Mary Rice Hasson
2023 was a pivotal year for both abortion and “transgender” concerns. On the surface, the two issues might seem very different, but they share overlapping messaging, providers, allies, and ideologies—and it’s important to recognize this.
Increasingly, U.S. states are aligned in one of two camps: those with radically permissive laws and policies towards abortion and minors’ “gender transitions” (medical and surgical procedures) and those with restrictive laws. For example, California, Minnesota, Illinois, and other progressive states that have passed extreme abortion laws (permitting abortion until birth) also hold themselves out as “sanctuary states” that assure access to abortion and minors’ medicalized “gender transitions.”
The links between the abortion and “transgender” movements are very real. They include:
Anthropology: The abortion and transgender movements rest on the same false anthropology that rejects God’s sovereignty (in favor of unfettered human autonomy), denies human nature (God’s design for the human person), and embraces moral relativism while repudiating the moral principles that lead to human flourishing.
Messaging: “My body, my choice” is a common theme uniting abortion advocates and promoters of easy access to “gender transition” procedures. Twitter memes promote the claim that “Abortion is gender-affirming care.” Anti-parent messages permeate both issues, with activists claiming it is “unsafe” to “out” teens who seek an abortion or to “transition.”
Providers: Whether in anticipation of Roe being overturned, or because of ideological commitment, Planned Parenthood has expanded rapidly into the “transgender health” business over the past few years, calling it “lifesaving care.” Affiliates routinely offer high-dose hormones (testosterone or estrogen) to self-identified “trans” teens and young adults, impairing or destroying the young person’ health and fertility. It’s a booming business that, like abortion, preys on vulnerable young people, often prescribing hormones at the first visit (Planned Parenthood affiliates typically require parental consent for teens 17 and under).
“Big Medicine”: As with abortion and contraception, the U.S. healthcare establishment enthusiastically supports medical and surgical “gender” interventions for minors. A recent Journal of the American Medical Association article describes harmful “transition” interventions as “essential healthcare.” The authors, Johns Hopkins public policy experts, back the blue-state trend to provide “sanctuary” to minors seeking “transition” without parental consent. Shockingly, a recent Pediatrics article slams states that seek to ban medicalized “gender transitions.” It contends that “withholding GAC [“gender-affirming” medical or surgical interventions] is harmful to children and amounts to state-sanctioned medical neglect and emotional abuse.” In other words, according to Big Medicine, parents who refuse to permit a teen’s double mastectomy for “transition” purposes are engaging in “medical neglect and emotional abuse.”
Consequences: Like abortion, the transgender deception results in physical, emotional, moral, and spiritual harm, even death.
Today, encouraged by schools, counselors, physicians, and social media, nearly ten percent of teens express “transgender or gender-diverse” identities. Yet the number of de-transitioners (young people who regret transition) is also growing. Like the women persuaded to abort their children, these victims of the transgender industry have been seduced by lies and exploited by profiteers who, though claiming to care for young people’s wellbeing, perpetrate terrible, lifelong harm on the vulnerable. And, as with the pro-life movement, parents, churches, and state leaders must speak up and ensure that state laws protect the most vulnerable.
