A Christian woman in Oregon has filed a lawsuit against the state for denying her application to adopt a child due to her religious beliefs regarding gender and sex, according to a report from National Review.
Jessica Bates, a mother of five, claims that her application was rejected because she refuses to use pronouns that contradict biological sex and would not bring a child to medical appointments for cross-sex hormone treatments.
The Oregon Department of Human Resources allegedly put Bates in a position to either abandon her religious convictions or forgo the possibility of ever adopting a child.
The lawsuit states that the department denied Bates’s application not because of a lack of financial resources or any history of abuse or neglect but because she acknowledged that her Christian faith informs her that gender and sex aren’t a choice.
State officials have implemented a last-minute religious litmus test for adoption, preventing Bates from starting a family.
Meanwhile, there are over 8,000 children living in Oregon foster care, with 200 waiting for adoption, The Federalist notes.
Gender dysphoria medicine, an industry estimated to be worth $5 billion by 2030, has become an area in which child patients guide their medical care, rather than licensed clinicians.
Concerns have been raised over the lifelong consequences of extreme treatments and how medical institutions manipulate the healthcare system to circumvent parents’ wishes.
One Swedish study found that people who were given “gender-affirming treatment” were 19 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population, The Federalist points out.
Despite this risk and other permanent mental and physical impacts of child transition treatments, Oregon legislators are proposing a new law to cut parents out of the process entirely.
This comes as 11 states have banned or restricted such treatments for minors with permanent implications, with lawmakers in at least 19 more considering similar legislation.
