{"id":4438,"date":"2023-07-26T18:08:47","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T18:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=4438"},"modified":"2023-07-26T18:11:23","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T18:11:23","slug":"lawmakers-opine-on-a-wisconsin-hospitals-reported-end-to-transgender-procedures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=4438","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers Opine on a Wisconsin Hospital\u2019s Reported End to Transgender Procedures"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/ssm-health\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"SSM<\/p>\n

This comes on the heels of a WRN investigative report documenting that Marshfield Clinic is performing transgender treatments on children, even as merger talks with Catholic-based healthcare provider, Essentia Health, continue.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The reaction at the Wisconsin Capitol to news that one of Madison\u2019s largest hospitals is ending gender-affirming care was loud and clear.<\/p>\n

Republicans at the statehouse on Monday cheered the decision, while Democrats raised concerns about the health and lives of transgender people.<\/p>\n

In addition to the clinic in Middleton, SSM Health \u2013 formerly known as\u00a0St. Mary\u2019s Hospital \u2013\u00a0operates hospitals in Madison, Baraboo, Janesville, Waupun, Rippon, Fond du Lac, and Monroe.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear if SSM Health offered gender-affirming care at any of its other locations, or if any services at those locations will be impacted by the change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI applaud SSM Health\u2019s brave decision to remain consistent with their faith values. It is one thing to perform these surgeries on adults, but making such painful and permanent changes to minors is particularly concerning. We are seeing a disturbing uptick in these surgeries that suggest social influences,\u201c Rep. Barb Dittrich, R-Oconomowoc, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

This comes on the heels of a WRN investigative report<\/a> documenting that Marshfield Clinic is performing transgender treatments on children, even as merger talks with Catholic-based healthcare provider, Essentia Health, continue.<\/p>\n

SSM Health has not yet formally announced its decision to end gender-affirming care for both children and adults nor has the hospital offered any explanation.<\/p>\n

But a Madison TV station reported over the weekend<\/strong><\/a> that the hospital is ending surgeries at its Aesthetic Center in Middleton because of pressure from the Catholic Church to have Catholic Hospitals end certain types of gender-affirming care.<\/p>\n

The top Democrat in the Wisconsin Senate, Minority Leader Melissa Agard, on Monday said she\u2019s worried about what SSM\u2019s decision will mean for transgender people.<\/p>\n

\u201cSSM\u2019s decision to stop providing this vital care is misguided and dangerous,\u201d Agard said. \u201cThere is no question that gender-affirming care saves lives. I will always stand with the trans community as they continue to face obstacles while simply trying to live as their authentic selves. Being able to live a happy and healthy life should be a basic expectation of everyone living here in our community, and I will continue to speak out against SSM\u2019s decision until all our trans friends and neighbors are able to do just that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madison\u2019s transgender alder, Dina Nina, added her reaction alongside Agard\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a transgender person, I\u2019m incredibly disheartened that SSM Health would bow at the feet of fear mongers instead of trusting the advice of the American Medical Association. Instead of cowering to a loud minority, they choose to flippantly disregard the needs of their patients,\u201d Nina said.<\/p>\n

Madison\u2019s diocese is also not commenting on SSM\u2019s decision. The church decided back in March<\/strong><\/a> to oppose gender-affirming care at Catholic hospitals across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/ssm-health\/ This comes on the heels of a WRN investigative…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":4440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-right-now"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4438"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4441,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438\/revisions\/4441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}