Print 
PDF
A proposed law in Oregon will allow children beginning at age 15 to obtain hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery without parental consent or notification.
The HB 2002 bill states that a “minor 15 years of age or older may give consent, without the consent of a parent or guardian of the minor, to … hospital care, medical or surgical diagnosis or treatment by a physician licensed by the Oregon Medical Board.”
How does this happen in a supposedly civilized country?
And how do licensed physicians reconcile their actions with their oath to "do no harm?"
Be informed, not misled.
The bill, which has 35 total sponsors in the Oregon House and Senate, includes language specifically protecting “gender-affirming treatment,” which it defines as a “procedure, service, drug, device or product that a physical or behavioral health care provider prescribes to treat an individual for incongruence between the individual’s gender identity and the individual’s sex assignment at birth.”
It is sponsored by Reps. Travis Nelson and Andrea Valderrama, and Sens. Kate Lieber and Elizabeth Steiner. All four are Democrats.
“Political progressives want to divorce children from their parents regarding crucial issues such as sex, abortion, and transgenderism,” ethicist Wesley J. Smith wrote for National Review. “Pending legislation from the hard-left state of Oregon would do just that.”
The bill also allows children of any age to obtain an abortion without parental consent.
Further, the bill would require the state-run Oregon Health Authority to pay for a minor’s hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery.
“The Oregon Health Authority or a coordinated care organization may not … deny or limit gender-affirming treatment that is medically necessary as determined by the physical or behavioral health care provider who prescribes the treatment,” the bill says.
There's much more in the bill. Smith reviews it in the National Review article. If you live in Oregon I strongly encourage you to inform yourself of the entire bill.
Smith said the proposed law infringes on parental rights.
That's true. And it's an understatement.
How did we get here?
In Deuteronomy chapter 28, Moses writes about blessings and curses, telling the people of God that if they choose to forsake rather than follow Him they will, among other things lose their children.
Verse 32 says, "Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand."
Verse 41 says, "Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity."
We have turned away from the Lord in our once godly nation. We have forsaken our founding principles.
We now have "Pharisees" and phonies giving the nation spiritual guidance---a president, a former Speaker of the House, and a flock of leftist false prophets in Congress are now giving our nation spiritual guidance on everything from human sexuality to climate change.
We must never expect nor allow politicians to lead our nation in spiritual matters.
Presbyterian pastor and educator Rev. Charles Finney warned of this, and said if the culture gets to this place---it is the "pulpit's fault."
He said in his article, 'The Decay of Consciencez" published in The Independent of New York, December 4, 1873:
Christ crucified for the sins of the world is the Christ that the people need."
Let us rid ourselves...of neglecting to preach the law of God until the consciences of men are asleep.
Such a collapse of conscience in this land could never have existed if the Puritan element in our preaching had not in a great measure fallen out.
Then he said this:
If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree.
If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.
Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart, and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation."
Takeaway
Then Finney said this:
"The church must act right or the country will be ruined. God cannot sustain this free and blessed country, which we love and pray for, unless the church will take right ground."
"Politics are a part of religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God."
"It seems sometimes as if the foundations of the nation were becoming rotten, and Christians seem to act as if they thought God did not see what they do in politics."
"But I tell you, he does see it, and he will bless or curse this nation, according to the course they take."
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Bold. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.