VIDEO: Chicago Teenage Girl Has Healthy Breasts Surgically Removed to Become Transgender ‘Male’ – Chicago Children’s Hospital’s ‘Trans’ Activism

Threat of youth suicide drives radical, body-disfiguring “sex reassignment” surgeries on minor children–should this be legal?

Defying Nature: Emily Pascal as a teenage girl, before undergoing her transgender “sex reassignment” surgeries to appear like the male she thinks she is. Paschal, 17, now identifies as “Emmet” (see video below) after having her healthy breasts surgically removed. Both Pascal’s parents and the medical professionals at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago cite her potential suicide as a key reason for pursuing the body-disfiguring operations as a minor.

 “We don’t offer anything that would have any long-lasting negative or irreversible effect unless this is truly a kid who’s older, who can make a wise decision, whose family is supportive.”— Dr. Scott Leibowitz, child and adolescent psychiatrist with Lurie Children’s Hospital’s Gender and Sex Development program

Folks, I am stunned at what passes for science and medical care these days. Emily Paschal, a 17-year-old girl from Gurnee, Illinois featured in these WYCC (PBS-Chicago) video segments, had her healthy adolescent breasts surgically removed as part of her “transitioning” process to become her male persona, “Emmet.” Her parents allowed the radical surgery in the name of helping their daughter become like the transgender “male” she thinks she is. They were assisted by Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, in a program led by an open homosexual, Dr. Robert Garofalo, who heads up the hospital’s “Gender and Sex Development Program.”

Last month I was interviewed by WYCC for this “In the Loop” segment,  “Raising a Transgender Teen,” without knowing the specifics of the Emily-“Emmet” Pascal story. WYCC is the lesser known of two PBS TV stations in Chicago, and this program aired September 24, 2015. WYCC used only a tiny portion of my interview, which is a shame because the reporter who interviewed me–not “In the Loop” host Barbara Pinto, who narrates the piece–was very fair and asked no “gotcha” questions. Note: I am identified here with “Center For Morality,” which will be a project of Americans For Truth as we transition to our new home in the Washington, D.C. area.

How tragic it is that the threat of suicide drives this entire process whereby panic-stricken parents–working with doctors who double as de facto LGBTQ activists–allow their child’s confused feelings to guide and rationalize the pursuit of permanent body-disfiguring operations.  Speaking of rationalizations: what would feminists say about Emily’s (“Emmet’s’) father Dirk Paschal recalling her leadership skills as a girl in the neighborhood as evidence that she was really a “boy.” Can’t girls be leaders?

The bottom line here is that doctors have become activists and pop-culture philosophers in pushing these extreme experimental “solutions” on vulnerable youth and their vulnerable parents–even though, as Dr. Garofalo admits (see 3:18 mark), the doctors are far from having all the answers. Most importantly, as he acknowledges, some kids overcome their sense of “gender nonconformity”–so why rush the operations and puberty-blocking drug “treatments”? And will we all one day as taxpaying Americans be subsidizing these horrific procedures through Obama-care? I question whether these radical “transgender” surgeries should even be legal for minors. More coming on this. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

Some highlights of the video are transcribed after the videos and the page jump:

Here is a second “bonus” video produced by WYCC with an extended interview with Emily (“Emmet”) Paschal’s parents:

Partial Transcription of WYCC program, “Raising a Transgender Teen”:

:40 — Faither, Dirk Paschal: “As a little, he [his daughter Emily] didn’t present as a little girl. He was the leader in the neighborhood and made up the games and all the kids followed. And he didn’t take much guff from anyone, either….So perhaps he acted like a boy more than we ever wanted to believe.”

1:54 – Dr. Robert Garofalo, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago: “I think there’s a misconception sometimes out there that a program such as ours is intervening medically..–or God forbid, surgically–in young children. That’s not what this program does and not what programs across the country like it across the country do.

2:17 — Dr. Garofalo continues: “Our job is to sort of tell people what we know about the science, tell people what we know…about the options, and then have them as families make a decision that’s in their best interest.”

2:28 — WYCC “In the Loop” reporter Barbara Pinto: “Those decisions particularly for children and adolescents can become complex and controversial. Some of those options include drugs that temporarily block puberty and for older teens, hormones that cause more permanent changes. Estrogen to bring on female puberty, and testosterone to bring on male puberty. Like all drugs, there are side-effects, including increased risks of cancers and heart disease. But there are few studies on long-term use of these drugs among people who are transgender. The studies that have been done indicate much higher rates of suicide in the transgender community–41 percent compared to less than 5 percent in the general population. They also are more likely to suffer from higher instances of depression and substance abuse. And gender is complex in childhood.”

3:18 – Dr. Garofalo: “A certain percentage of young people…who present as gender non-conforming as children may not persist as gender non-conforming when they’re adolescents or adults. Nobody really knows the exact percentage, and nobody really knows what are the factors that are going to contribute to … what might cause someone to persist or not to persist.”

3:34 – Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH [Center For Morality]: “Our hearts go out to the parents. We know these are very difficult issues. But radical gender surgeries are often not the answer. We see studies which show that adults who go through sex reassignment surgeries are often still depressed, still suicidal–after going through these body-disfiguring operations.”

4:18 -Dr. Scott Leibowitz [child and adolescent psychiatrist with Lurie’s Gender and Sex Development program]: “We don’t offer anything that would have any long-lasting negative or irreversible effect unless this is truly a kid who’s older, who can make a wise decision, whose family is supportive….”

4:38 – [Dr. Leibowitz continues]: “I would argue that we can’t be worried about some theoretical cancer that might be happening in 20 years if we don’t have a child or an adolescent at all–if they commit suicide.”

WYCC reporter Pinto: “That is why the Paschals had little doubt about moving ahead with medical intervention.”

4:55 — Ann Paschal [Emily/”Emmet’s”) mother: “It was truly a life or death situation for us so it was something we just felt we needed to do.”

5:08 – WYCC’s Pinto: “With the help of his health care team at Lurie to get insurance to cover the $12,000 cost, Emmet recently had ‘top surgery’–essentially a double-mastectomy to remove breast tissue. And he’s started on daily doses of testosterone to bring on male puberty. He’s also legally his name from Emily to Emmet.

Emily/”Emmet” Paschal: “I feel more correct. I feel like I’m starting to fit, like the puzzle is coming together.” …