Catholic Bishops Vote to Address Transgender Health Care – The American Spectator

Last Friday, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to add guidance for Catholic health care providers on transgender surgeries and hormone treatments. This vote comes after the bishops issued a doctrinal note in March that briefly addressed the subject but did not provide specific guidance. 

In their March statement, the bishops wrote: 

Catholic health care services must not perform interventions, whether surgical or chemical, that aim to transform the sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex or take part in the development of such procedures.

The revised section on transgender issues in healthcare will be incorporated into the section of the Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs) that addresses the professional-patient relationship, which has not been revised since 1994. 

“At that time, it was not envisioned that it might be necessary to include specific guidance concerning radical modifications to the human body, such as are widely advocated in practice today for the treatment of those suffering from gender dysphoria,” said Bishop Daniel Flores, chair of the conference’s Committee on Doctrine. 

In recent years, the number of people who identify as transgender has risen sharply. One report, featured in the New York Times last summer, shows that the number of young people identifying as transgender has nearly doubled. In 2022, people between the ages of 13 and 24 made up 42.7 percent of people who identify as transgender, though that age range only makes up 18.6 percent of the population. As law, politics, educational institutions, and our broader culture have coalesced in support of the LGBTQ movement, it’s no surprise that young people are being influenced by gender ideology. 

Fort Worth’s Bishop Michael Olson drew attention to the “lack of clarity between what is authentic gender dysphoria and then also the gender ideology,” which Pope Francis has called “ideological colonization.” Bishop Olson hopes that the revision to the ERDs will clarify the genuine distinction between those who suffer from gender dysphoria and those who have been influenced by the ideology. 

In their March statement, the bishops explained that so-called gender-affirming care is not morally permissible because it isn’t actually health care. Rather, any attempt to change the gender of one’s body marks an attempt “to alter the fundamental order and finality of the body and to replace it with something else.”

The draft of the addition will be reviewed, discussed, and voted upon by the whole body of bishops. Catholic News Agency reported that “the motion to revise the ERDs” and address the issue of transgenderism in health care “passed by a unanimous voice vote.” The revision will, according to the Jesuit America Magazine, impact the nearly 2,200 Catholic hospitals throughout the country.

The bishops’ guidance comes not a moment too soon. Prominent “detransitioners” like Chloe Cole have raised awareness about the turmoil and harm caused by medical transitions by sharing their personal experiences. Though the number of transgender individuals in the United States is fairly small — less than 1 percent of the population — detransitioners like Cole testify to the massive damage that medical transition has on the individual. 

With the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and men competing in women’s sports making headlines, the bishops’ guidance will find a welcome audience among those who are eager to see common sense and genuine care for others replace the gender insanity that has taken over our culture and our medical institutions. 

Mary Frances Myler is a postgraduate fellow with the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government. 

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