A Western Australian MP says she has concerns that a growing number of ‘detransitioners’ will put pressure on Australia’s Medicare system.
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Sophia Moermond is a member of the Legislative Council representing the Legalise Cannabis Party. She was the first speaker at the Let Women Speak event held on the steps of Western Australia’s Parliament on Tuesday.
Speaking to the small crowd Moermond listed a long list of concerns she holds about transgender rights and the current methodology of affirmation-based healthcare.
Addressing the crowd Moermond said her speech would probably be “political suicide”.
Moermond said there had been a rejection of science in favour of ideology when it came to transgender health treatments, and she held concerns about affirmative care models, the puberty of young people who are transgender, violent offenders who are transgender being held in female prisons, reduced safeguarding of children, transgender women being allowed to play sport, and the “silencing of women’s voices.”
“We are creating a whole generation of children that will need lifelong medical care. I am concerned about the medical costs that already overburdened Medicare system is dealing with now.” Moermond said.
The Legalise Cannabis MP said she believed there would be a large number of people choosing to “detransition” and this would put further strain on Australia’s health system.
“I am concerned about the increase in homophobia I am seeing around the world.” Moermond said, “In particular ‘Lesbophobia’ that triggered and pushed by this movement. The denial of biological sex denies the basis for same-sex attraction, and that is homophobia.”
The MP later posted the same statements to her social media pages, where one commentator asked her if she also held any concerns about growing levels of transphobia in society?
While Moermond said a growing number of transgender people who change gender and then later regret their decision will put Australia’s healthcare system under pressure, the available research has shown that this rarely occurs.
In 2022 the World Professional Association for Transgender Health said evidence of later regret is scant, but people undergoing gender transition should be informed of the possibility during psychological counselling before undertaking medical treatment.
A study published in January this year by OHSU, an Oregon based health provider that provides gender reassignment services, found that of 1989 that people who engaged with their program between 2016 and 2021, six people had later reverted to their previously held gender identity.
Moermond was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council in 2021, she is one of two members of the Legalise Cannabis party in the parliament, the other is Dr Brian Walker. Dr Walker has previously voiced his support for LGBTIQA+ law reform.
Legalise Cannabis argue that prohibition of the drug denies people the right to autonomy and self-determination over what they take into their own bodies. The consider it to be an intrusion into bodily integrity, a human rights violation.
Graeme Watson
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