Women’s Healthcare Is for Women, Right?

Gender identity agendas are beginning to infiltrate the medical field.

By Lauren Glickert

 

Last week, I had an appointment at the gynecologist. As you can imagine, women filled the waiting room: teenage girls, elderly women, and young mothers proudly carrying their newborn babies. The only exception to the all-female waiting room was the occasional husband sitting beside his expectant wife.

Why was I not surprised to be at a doctor’s office with a clientele entirely dominated by women? The answer is simple: the primary job of a gynecologist is to diagnose and treat conditions that affect the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and other female organs. Men simply do not possess these organs and therefore visit the gynecologist under much rarer circumstances.  In January 2014, under public and media pressure, the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology reversed its long-held stance that gynecologists risked losing their board certification if they treated men. The rationale at the time was that gynecologists provided treatment that men could not easily obtain from other doctors—an example cited was a high-resolution anoscopy.

 

History and Cultural Norms

Throughout history, society recognized this distinction as a mere proponent of the biological difference between the sexes. Men and women require radically different medical care. Despite logic, biology, and scientific fact, the perceived distinctions between the sexes are growing more and more blurry, if not completely dismissed. Instead of being viewed as an innate, biological attribute, gender has become a transactional, emotional form of identification in which one can wake up and think, “What gender will I choose today?”

This question ultimately surfaced when the transgenderism movement became more widely accepted at the start of the 1960s. Ever since, the LGBTQ+ movement has pushed social boundaries and cultural norms.

Today, gender fluidity is expanding. Members of the trans community may identify as the opposite gender than their sex or a “non-conforming” gender. These individuals not only identify with a gender that contradicts their biological sex, but they also require others to use their preferred pronouns and accept their newly selected gender. Gender identity is now something that is not up for debate and must be affirmed, without question, by all other members of society.

Cultural pressure to accept, and even support, transgenderism, gender fluidity, and gender identity is continually increasing. Even modern medicine practice is beginning to accept these delusions. Males cannot biologically–or medically–possess a uterus and ovaries or give birth. Still, some doctors regard gender as a feeling rather than a fundamental, incontrovertible reality.

 

Acceptance of Gender Identity

My doctor’s appointment reflected this acceptance of gender identity in the medical field. The office gave me a short form to fill out upon my arrival, as per the typical healthcare procedure. I expected the survey to provide the gynecologist with helpful information about my medical record, perhaps my parents’ history of illness or my vaccination records. Instead, the form asked me five short questions, including my name, gender identity, sex “assigned at birth,” preferred pronouns, and sexual orientation. I rolled my eyes waiting to reach the helpful information part of the form, but it ended at those five questions.

How is this information useful to a doctor? Why should they care? Shouldn’t a gynecologist, of all people, understand his or her role is most commonly to treat the biological functions of the female body?

To an extent, I understand the transgender movement seeking societal attention and social acceptance. Despite this, I would expect biologists, whose work is founded on the basis of scientific reality, to draw a clear line between feelings and science. Yet, many practicing doctors of all specializations are entertaining the charade.

 

Lingering Questions

I am left wondering if this overindulgent attention to gender identity within the healthcare system will be at the expense of all other patients. If my own doctor cared more about my pronouns and gender preference than my wellness records, how can I trust them to properly assess my health? 

Regardless of what society accepts and gender conformists believe, human bodies operate on a basis of science, not feelings.

The push for gender identity acceptance from the left is at an all-time high. Despite this, we as a society must keep ourselves grounded in reality. Women filled the waiting room at the gynecologist, not because each woman woke up and felt like a girl, but because gynecologists overwhelmingly offer services specific to the female body.

Acceptance of feelings as facts is a slippery slope in our culture today. As soon as healthcare practices lose sight of the obvious notion that women’s healthcare is for women and allows science to conform to feelings, we have reason to question whether our doctors’ offices are prioritizing healthcare or cultural homogeneity. I am afraid we are about to find out.

 

 

About the Author

Lauren Glickert is a senior at Grove City College, double majoring in Political Science and Communications. In addition to serving as a marketing fellow for the Institute for Faith & Freedom, Lauren is a student ambassador for Concerned Women for America and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

On campus, Lauren engages in several student leadership opportunities such as acting as President for Grove City’s Young Women for America chapter and leading at Grove City Middle School as Young Life team leader. She also served on the Student Government Association, Orientation Board, Project Okello African Missions, Homecoming Committee, several mentorship programs, and is a member of Mortar Board National Honor Society and Pi Sigma Chi Political Science Honorary.

Lauren spent the summer before senior year interning at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. and plans to move back to the Capitol post-grad to focus on public policy and justice issues. Lauren is passionate about American politics, human rights issues, and advocacy, and she is excited to see where her future leads.

READ MORE BY LAUREN GLICKERT: The Heartbreaking Reality of Social Media

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer alone and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Grove City College, the Institute for Faith and Freedom, or their affiliates.

Cover Image: Photo by Online Marketing on Unsplash