In this brief reply to Ashley’s rebuttal concerning the gatekeeping of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for transgender people, we address some of the criticisms made of our original response to Ashley. We first re-examine Ashley’s attempted analogy between abortion and HRT for gender dysphoria and find it wanting. Our argument that it is reasonable to regard cosmetic surgery and HRT for gender dysphoria as comparable (including in terms of prior psychological assessment) is restated to show that Ashley’s previous objection to it is insubstantial. Our objection to Ashley’s simultaneous rejection of the traditional informed consent model while maintaining its language, and thus relying on its positive connotations rather than argument, is then clarified. Finally, we scrutinise the data on which rests Ashley’s claim that informed consent without assessment always yields positive outcomes, finding this conclusion to be overstated.
Ashley has responded to our response to ‘Gatekeeping HRT for transgender…