Republican Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw grilled an expert witnesses on Wednesday over whether she could produce a study that showed sex-change procedures benefit children.
Crenshaw got into a back-and-forth with Dr. Meredithe McNamara, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine, over a provision that would eliminate federal funding for any training hospitals that provide sex-change procedures for minors, according to The Washington Examiner. The procedures include cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and surgeries.
“This is taxpayer money, and when 70% of taxpayers opposed these barbaric treatments on minors, then taxpayers should not fund it,” Crenshaw said, the outlet reported. (RELATED: GOP 2024 Candidates Are United On One Thing: Opposing Sex Changes For Minors)
This is a radical new movement that is performing permanent physiological changes to children with no evidence of any benefits. pic.twitter.com/BV9at1G7At
— Rep. Dan Crenshaw (@RepDanCrenshaw) June 14, 2023
Crenshaw denied that he “cherrypicked” studies critical of sex-change procedures for youth, citing that the American Academy of Pediatrics, Journal of Endocrine Society, and British Journal of Medicine all cite a “lack of evidence” when referring to the purported benefits of the procedures.
Crenshaw asked McNamara if she believed that procedures causing “permanent physiological changes” should have “extremely strong evidence of the benefits.”
Crenshaw then asked McNamara to identify a study or journal to support her claim.
“Which journal says something different?” Crenshaw asked. “Tell me a journal that has done systematic reviews that cites different evidence, that cites strong evidence for benefits of these therapies.”
“The standards of care were developed based on extensive–” McNamara responded.
“You’re not telling me any journal, you’re not telling me any study,” Crenshaw fired back.
McNamara continued to cite “the standards of care.” Crenshaw interrupted, telling her that “the standards of care” is not an acceptable answer and to name a journal or study to substantiate her argument.
“The standards of care — that’s not a journal, that’s not a study, that’s not an organization, that’s not an institution. You’re just saying words,” Crenshaw said. “Name one study.”