My friends on the left have probably read my last few articles and exclaimed over my supposed hypocrisy. After all, how could I discuss parental rights yet stand against parents seeking to give transgender treatments/surgery/therapy to their children?
That’s where the exception comes in. As a legal tradition, we do not support a parent’s right or ability to abuse their child.
Let us go back a few centuries to ancient Rome. Rome had an absolutist view of parental rights. Not only did the parents have the right and duty to a child's care, upbringing and education, they had a right to the child’s very existence. If a parent did not want a child, no matter the age, the parent could simply kill the child. Baby is a girl and you wanted a son? Leave her out in the elements to die of exposure. Son is disrespectful and refuses to do his duty? Just kill him. All of this was perfectly normal and acceptable in ancient Roman culture.
Let’s return to Sir William Blackstone’s legal thoughts. Blackstone wrote about this aspect of Roman culture but denounced it as going too far. In this, he recognized another duty of a parent: to protect a child.
This is why we do not allow parents to abuse their children. Anything that harms a child physically or mentally is a violation of the parental duty to protect their offspring.
I worked in family law before I had my first son. Much of my practice was devoted to protecting children whose parents did not fulfill their parental duties. We regularly either took custody away from abusive parents or, in extreme cases, terminated their parental rights altogether.
What does this have to do with transgender treatment? “It is not on the same plane as abuse,” many would say. I would have to disagree.
Medical practice routinely does not allow a parent to do whatever they want medically with a child. A doctor will not kill your child because he is disobedient. They will not give your child a surgery he does not need because you’re a hypochondriac.
In the same way, giving what is now known as “gender-affirming care” to minors is as harmful as chopping their arm off because you found a freckle that you are convinced will one day be cancer.
Studies now show that kids who receive these treatments have a higher rate of suicide than those who do not. Other studies show that when left alone, 90% or more of kids who have “gender non-contentedness” grow out of it. Instead of letting that happen, parents take their kids to get “care” that permanently changes the child. That child can never fully detransition if they so choose in the future. A girl who says she is a boy may one day grow to believe again she is a girl, but will never have the ability to grow her own children or breastfeed them.
This is lasting physical harm. And that is abuse. That is why transgender care for minors is not included under parental rights. Instead, it is a violation of the duty to protect the child.
As parents, we instinctively protect our kids. All moms become mama bears as soon as they find out they are pregnant. This is a God-given instinct to which we must yield. It is an instinct we recognize in the law and recognize as the duty it is. Failure to listen to it is abuse, and no right covers that.
I hope this series has been helpful to my readers. You have more rights and duties than I think the government would have you believe. I hope I have encouraged you to stand up for those rights and push back for the sake of your children. Our children deserve it.
Laura Clark is a wife, mother, and community activist. She currently serves as the interim president of Alabama Center for Law and Liberty, a conservative nonprofit law firm that fights for limited government, free markets, and strong families in the courts. Anything written by Laura for this publication does not constitute legal advice.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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