In a concerning move that shows his true colors, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has signed on to a multi-state lawsuit challenging a federal executive order that seeks to protect kids from gender transition procedures for minors.
The lawsuit, backed by California and 14 other states, but with Shapiro as the only governor personally attaching his name, demands continued access to puberty blockers and body-altering surgical interventions for children, even as a growing number of detransitioners and medical experts raise red flags about the safety, ethics, and long-term harmful consequences of such interventions.
In a statement provided to Delaware Valley Journal, Tom Shaheen, VP of Policy at PA Family Institute, said, “So-called ‘gender-affirming care’ is permanently harming children, and it must be stopped. By joining this lawsuit, Shapiro is defending a practice the most rigorous studies to date say lacks evidence. These chemical and surgical interventions are irreversible, harmful, and far from the settled science activists claim.”
This lawsuit comes at a time when public opposition to pediatric gender procedures is not only high, but it’s bipartisan. According to a Harvard-Harris poll, 78% of voters, including 67% of Democrats, believe puberty blockers and gender surgeries should only be allowed for those over 18. Additionally, 77% oppose allowing such procedures for minors without parental consent.
Shapiro, however, appears undeterred by the data or by the rising tide of personal testimonies and legal action from individuals who have been harmed by these medical interventions.
One such case we shared last week is that of Miles Yardley, a male model who formerly went by Salomé Evangelista. He recently filed a malpractice lawsuit against the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). According to NY Post coverage of the case, CHOP placed Yardley on puberty blockers and estrogen after just two visits, at age 15.
Yardley’s story is harrowing. He now lives with a brain tumor, hypothyroidism, cognitive impairment, and suspected permanent sterilization, all of which he believes are consequences of the hormone treatments prescribed by CHOP.
Pennsylvania taxpayers have already footed the bill for these procedures to the tune of over $20 million since 2015. CHOP was ranked among the worst pediatric hospitals in the nation for the volume and billing of such procedures, topping the “Dirty Dozen” list compiled by the medical watchdog group Do No Harm.
Shapiro’s decision to legally oppose the federal restriction now aligns him not only with controversial hospital practices but also with the ideological fringe. As Beth Ann Rosica wrote this week in an op-ed for Broad + Liberty, Shapiro’s legal action may become a defining, and damaging, moment in his political trajectory:
“Looking back on a failed political career, it is often difficult to pinpoint the exact instant when everything fell apart,” Rosica writes. “But the moment Josh Shapiro joined a lawsuit to reinstate sex change procedures for children may be judged by history as his final swan dive.”
As Rosica rightly points out, “There is no way for him to claim he’s a moderate any longer. Every opponent Shapiro faces will have the opportunity to remind voters of his support for the mutilation of physically healthy children.”
While Shapiro has attempted to justify his position by invoking “parental rights” and “medical freedom,” the facts and the public paint a very different picture. A Pew Research poll earlier this year found that only 26% of Americans support his stance, while a majority support the Trump administration’s decision to end federal support for these procedures.
“This isn’t leadership,” Shaheen was quoted in DVJ. “It’s Shapiro caving to political pressure from the far left at the expense of children and families in Pennsylvania.”
Reports indicate even former Obama advisor Rahm Emanuel recently broke with progressives on this issue, telling podcaster Megyn Kelly that the Democratic Party had gone too far in its embrace of gender ideology and reasserting that men cannot become women.
In the words of President Trump’s executive order, these interventions leave vulnerable youth “trapped with lifelong medical complications, a losing war with their own bodies, and, tragically, sterilization.”
The lawsuits are mounting. The stories of regret are multiplying. And the polling is clear: Pennsylvanians, like the rest of America, want to protect kids.
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