On Tuesday, The Federalist posted an article about one of the drugs used in ‘transgender care.’ The article was written by someone who was prescribed Lupron as part of a cancer treatment protocol. Lupron is one on the puberty blockers used in ‘transgender care.’ Just for the record, the reason I keep putting ‘transgender care’ in quotes is that it is not care at all–it is setting up a person for a lifetime of necessary and frequent medical treatments.

The author notes the side effects she suffered from taking Lupron:

Instead, I now suffer from osteoarthritis and chronic bone pain, most likely caused by a drug called Lupron, the very same drug used to stop puberty in children claiming to be transgender.

I received a Lupron injection on my first day in the hospital as part of the other supportive care I received. The drug was prescribed for two reasons; the first was because I had a hemorrhagic type of leukemia, and Lupron was used to stop the risk of my period transforming into hemorrhaging. The second reason was to protect fertility, operating under the theory that by temporarily shutting down fertility by inducing temporary menopause, the inactive system wouldn’t be exposed to the chemotherapy agents.

Although the use of Lupron to protect fertility is newer and not one that the FDA has approved, it was prescribed matter-of-factly compared to chemotherapy agents. Ironically, none of my chemotherapy agents caused hair loss, but I lost over half of my hair during treatment from the Lupron and wore a wig for over six months after my treatment ended.

Lupron caused both general and abdominal weight gain, but because it also caused decreased bone density, I also have chronic pain in my pelvis and arthritis in my knees from osteoarthritis that I didn’t have before treatment. I now get injections in my knees to walk comfortably; I’ve given up my passion for trail running and generally cannot use cardio exercise to control my weight. I have to sit on a cushion at work and when I drive.

The author also notes that the dosage of Lupron given monthly as a puberty blocker is twice what she was given as a cancer treatment.

The article concludes:

Thus, we must ask ourselves, as a society, whether children or even their parents can consent to drugs and procedures that create a permanent dependence on medical care absent life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer or diabetes. Moreover, can they consent during periods of intense emotional distress? The side effects I continue to experience from only nine months of Lupron, first administered in an authentic life-and-death situation, are far less severe than those on children, but they are permanent.

I have a high degree of faith in science and medicine. Still, it’s becoming evident that we must prevent the medical exploitation of children and work to keep the temporary distresses of adolescence from being permanently medicalized and pathologized. The time for live and let live is over, and states must continue intervening. We must stop the needless sterilization of children.

What are we doing to our children?