Rapier108 said:
Let's see who has the guts to defend this.
Lets start with the actual quote rather than the paraphrased.
Actual quote: " Every major medical association agrees that gender affirming healthcare for transgender kids is a best practice and potentially life-saving. "
Paraphrased quote: Jen Psaki says sex reassignment surgery and puberty blockers for KIDS is "a best practice and potentially lifesaving.
I think it's a good practice when debating to steelman someone's position (make the strongest possible case) rather than strawman. It very well may be that if pressed Psaki would state that yes, she meant puberty blockers and sex-reassignment for kids, but there's no way you can glean that she meant exactly that when she said "gender affirming."
A steel man approach to what she meant by gender affirming is what I think it is as follows. At minimum, a child who comes seeking medical care for alleged transgendered diagnosis is going through a major psychological event. Either they are confused or could in actuality be a part of a small minority of people who experience gender dysmorphia. As a best practice, affirming the gender that they state is data driven approach proven to reduce incidents of suicides. That does not preclude intense psychological counseling to help the child accept their biological gender or, at a future date when the child is an adult who can make their own choices, the ability to choose hormones or sex reassignment. It simply means meeting the person where they're at right now and doing the least harm.