‘Do No Harm’ Act Would Ban Transgender Surgeries on Minors in PA
When Republican state Sens. Judy Ward (R-Blair) and Dave Argall (R-Schuylkill) brought state legislators, medical professionals, and advocates to discuss the “Do No Harm” Act, it was to hear stories like the one told by Simon B. Amaya Price.
“The harms of so-called gender affirming care are real. I experienced emotional manipulation and malpractice from my doctors, one of whom asked my father, ‘Would you like a dead son or a living daughter?’ while I was in the room. I was 14 at the time,” Price told the Pennsylvania Senate Policy Committee on Tuesday.
“I believed what he said to be true. I was convinced that either I was going to transition or die.”
Amaya Price is a “desister,” someone who identified as transgender, but decided to live in accordance with his biological gender instead of undergoing medical interventions. He was in Pennsylvania to support the Do No Harm Act, which would ban the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for minors.
Supporters say the legislation is necessary to protect children from making irreversible decisions before they are mature enough to fully understand the consequences. “It’s difficult for me to understand how we could expect children to make informed decisions about these life-changing procedures,” Argall said during the hearing. He praised Ward for “leading the charge on this important issue and fighting to protect children in Pennsylvania.”
Ward noted her bill would also prevent taxpayer dollars from being used for sex-change procedures on children. She mentioned the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is one of the leading hospitals offering hormone and surgical treatment to kids.
Dr. Kurt Miceli, a Delaware County psychiatrist and the medical director of the Do No Harm organization, also testified. His group counters the “dangerous trends in medicine, including youth-focused gender ideology.”
The group launched a database in 2024, finding from 2019 to 2023 there were more than 5,700 insurance claims for sex reassignment in the U.S. Of those, 316 took place in Pennsylvania.
Dan Bartkowiak, the chief strategy officer of the Pennsylvania Family Council, said Right-to-Know requests submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Health show that from 2015 to 2023, nearly 5,000 people aged 18 or younger received taxpayer-funded services related to sex reassignment and transition-related services and drugs. During that time, more than $21.8 million was spent on these services. The annual cost to taxpayers has sharply increased, rising from $58,919 in 2015 to more than $5 million in 2023.
Opponents say the potential harm comes from denying gender-affirming care to anyone who believes they need it.
“Transgender people of all ages are entitled to the care and opportunities that others take for granted to live lives recognized as their full selves,” Sultan Shakir, former president and executive officer of the Mazzoni Center, told The Inquirer earlier this year.
January Littlejohn, a senior fellow with Do No Harm, told a very different story Tuesday.
She testified about her 13-year-old daughter who was experiencing stress over being a girl. It came after three of her middle school friends claimed they were transgender, said Littlejohn. Instead of pursuing a new gender, the parents sought help for their child from a mental health professional.
“It was clear from conversations that our daughter was uncomfortable with her developing body and had an intense fear of being sexualized,” said Litttlejohn. “She was filled with deep self-loathing and was in true emotional pain and had been encouraged by peers and influencers to believe that gender was the source of her pain. What she really needed was for us to help her make sense of her confusion and remind her that hormones and surgeries could never change her sex or resolve her underlying mental health issues.
“I shudder to think what could have happened if we had affirmed her false identity and consented to medical interventions, as opposed to what we did, which was to lovingly affirm her in the reality of her sex, as she is, beautifully unique and irreplaceable, and undeniably female.”
Polls show Americans overwhelmingly support banning sex-change surgery for minors. In Europe, which is ahead of the curve on transgender issues, more countries are reversing their transgender-advocacy policies and placing restrictions on treatment for children.
America should do the same, Price said.
“We know that the vast majority of trans-identified children desist by adulthood if left unmedicalized. While I believe this aptly-named act to be a necessary first step in ending this barbaric and unscientific practice, it is only the first step. There are many detransitioners who only started medical transition in adulthood.”
