Ireland Might Drop Psychiatric Requirements for Transgender Individuals Seeking Hormone Therapy

Ireland is considering letting transgender persons receive hormone therapy without undergoing any kind of psychiatric evaluation by a medical professional, as is currently required under Irish law.

Ireland’s Minister for Health Simon Harris will meet with transgender activists in August and September to determine if it might be appropriate to abandon the current regulations around access to hormone therapy to help transgender individuals transition from their biological sex to the sex of their choice, The Times reported.

The consideration comes after the World Health Organization ruled on June 19 that gender dysphoria is no longer a mental condition.

“Gender incongruence, meanwhile, has also been moved out of the mental disorders in the ICD, into sexual health conditions,” WHO stated in its June report.

Denmark was the first country to declassify gender dysphoria as a mental condition, ahead of the WHO’s change in classification of transgender persons.

Four out of 10 transgender Americans have attempted suicide, according to a 2015 poll by the National Center for Transgender Equality. That rate is nearly nine times greater than the suicide rate among all Americans, according to the poll.

Biological males undergoing hormone therapy to become female have a much higher risk for blood clots than biological men and women, a Tuesday study from the Annals of Internal Medicine found. The study also shows that males who transition to become female don’t experience any of the benefits bestowed upon biological females, like a lower risk for heart disease.

The prospective move accords with the predominantly Catholic nation’s other recent events, including its May 25 referendum to legalize abortion.

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