TN Rep Calls Out ACLU For Threats Against Hospital Halting Gender Reassignment Surgeries

TN Rep Calls Out ACLU For Threats Against Hospital Halting Gender Reassignment Surgeries

TN Rep Calls Out ACLU For Threats Against Hospital Halting Gender Reassignment Surgeries

Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

One Tennessee legislator spoke out against the Tennessee chapter of the ACLU after the group launched an attack on Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare because the hospital placed a hold on gender reassignment surgeries and canceled a surgery scheduled for a 19-year-old patient after physicians voiced concerns.

Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville -District 14) slammed the ACLU-TN after the group claimed that the actions taken by MLH were not in compliance with the law.

“The ACLU-TN is deeply concerned with MLH’s sudden and drastic change in policy regarding treatment of patients who are transgender and/or nonbinary,” read a letter written to MLH by the group on Wednesday.

The letter continued, “ACLU-TN demands MLH promptly rectify its unlawful actions…failure to do so will result in ACLU-TN filing a formal complaint seeking investigation.”

According to The Tennessee Lookout, MLH released the following statement in response:

“Our commitment remains to deliver high quality and compassionate care to any patient regardless of their race, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression…In recent weeks, some care providers voiced concerns about patients receiving gender affirming procedures at a facility affiliated with our health system. This resulted in a temporary pause to review current practices. We have not changed our practices regarding the treatment of transgender and/or non-binary patients. We have not wavered from our commitment as a health system for all. We understand the physicians are moving forward with getting the patients rescheduled before the end of the year.”

Zachary spoke out against the “social contagion” of gender-affirming care as a big part of the reason for the drastic increase in gender reassignment surgeries in minors over the past few years.

According to Komodo Health, a health information technology company, gender dysphoria diagnoses in minors increased from 24,847 in 2020 to 42,167 in 2021. Another study done by the University of California San Francisco reported that the number of young girls who had irreversible surgeries on their breasts was 13 times higher than just ten years ago.

Zachary also stated that he is “extremely disappointed” in MLH’s decision to reverse the policy.

“Our children are so impressionable…when they’re younger, we don’t allow them to make decisions about what they eat, when they go to bed, what medicine they take, but now we’ve got this process to where they can make decisions about their gender,” Zachary said.

“It’s completely inappropriate, it’s wrong, it’s something that lawmakers need to be bold enough to stand up [against] and say ‘no, this is not something that we’re going to allow to go on in our state,’” he continued.

Zachary previously led Republican legislators in a push for Vanderbilt University Medical Center to stop performing gender-affirming surgeries on minors, which were halted by the hospital earlier this year.

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com

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2 Responses

  1. Gender surgery is an elective surgery and no law is being broken by a medical facility’s refusal to do it.

  2. Yes, Ralph Balch, and abortion is legal in many states, so no law is being broken by sucking a fetus limb by limb out of the womb. Clearly, the fact that a procedure is legal does not make it moral or any less despicable.

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