‘Permanently sterilized’: Father shares harrowing details of court battles to save his son
The encore episode of the "Generation Indoctrination" podcast, hosted by Brandon Showalter, delved into the heartrending story of a father fighting against the medicalization of his gender-confused son, revealing the depth of the impact of entrenched gender ideology on family courts, legal systems and medical institutions.
The story of Ted Hudacko, a father from the San Francisco Bay Area, was the focus of the season three bonus episode, titled “A Father Fights Back: How the Family Courts Facilitated The Sterilization Of His Gender-Confused Minor Son.” The story, according to Showalter, epitomizes the struggles many face in the complex and often polarizing issue of gender dysphoria in minors.
Hudacko's ordeal began when his ex-wife, with the backing of doctors at the University of California San Francisco Health Care System, had a hormone-blocking device surgically implanted in their teenage son's arm, initiating him on cross-sex hormones at a cost of over $200,000 billed to Hudacko's insurance. This was done in violation of a court order that required Hudacko's consent for any gender identity-related surgery.
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Showalter described this situation as a "multi-headed Hydra," underscoring the complex interplay of various systems in enforcing gender ideology.
The case first gained widespread attention through journalist Abigail Schreier's detailed report in the Manhattan Institute's publication City Journal, which laid bare the ideologically driven actions of court officers that severely limited Hudacko's parental rights and pushed his son toward so-called “gender-affirming care.”
Adding to the complexity, the doctor involved, Stephen Rosenthal, has been reported to receive funding from pharmaceutical companies that produce puberty blockers. He is also a recipient of federal research grants for studies on gender-confused children.
The financial and emotional toll on Hudacko has been immense, he told Showalter. He discovered a charge of over $200,000 on his health insurance statement for the puberty blocker implantation. The realization that his son could be permanently sterilized, without his knowledge or consent, was devastating.
“Doctors told me, ‘Ted, that is really serious. That's really bad. You need to get that removed because your son's going to be permanently sterilized in four months because, in addition to the suppression, the mother had started my son on estrogen, and the two of those in combination will cause sterility,’” he said.
Hudacko's legal representative, Tracy Henderson, outlined the two-fold nature of their legal battle: a family law case addressing the violation of a court order and a federal suit claiming infringement of Hudacko's fundamental rights. The case highlights significant concerns over medical ethics, parental rights and the influence of ideology in the family court system.
Throughout the podcast, the depth of the ideological capture within the judicial system was laid bare. From bizarre courtroom questions to the apparent pre-judgment of cases, Hudacko's experience paints a disturbing picture of a system swayed by a specific set of beliefs.
“Parents navigating the tangled web of gender ideology when the family courts are involved often find themselves calculating what they say and how they say it, given the depth of the ideological capture in the judicial system,” Showalter explained.
The podcast also touched on the broader implications of trans medicalization, including the potential cognitive impact of puberty blockers on children, as discussed by Dr. Sally Baxendale. This aspect of the treatment, often understated in public discourse, Showalter said, raises crucial questions about the long-term effects of these interventions on young minds.
“Many Americans are understandably alarmed that if a child on this pathway is given a combination of puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones, he or she will almost certainly be rendered permanently sterile. But an undiscussed impact of hormone blockers in children is a sort of freezing effect of the drug on the child's developing brain,” he said.
Baxendale agreed: “How has this been allowed to develop as a treatment, when we know so much about brain development, and stopping puberty and what happens in puberty? We can kind of predict that cognition is going to be really, really important. How has nobody been looking at all of the thousands of patients that have gone through this treatment? It's, I think, a medical scandal,” she said.
As the case continues, with mounting legal fees and ongoing challenges, Showalter said Hudacko's story is a stark reminder of the complexities and controversies surrounding the issue of gender identity in minors. It exposes the entanglement of legal, medical and ideological factors that can profoundly affect families and children, often with irreversible consequences.
“In California, we're in a lot of trouble, and the only way out of it is to not participate,” Henderson said. “You have to not use the language. Boys cannot become girls. Girls cannot become boys. I don't care what anybody says. You need a therapist if you think so. If you're a parent that believes that, you need help, and that's it. You cannot participate … for the most basic level, you just cannot participate in this.”
To learn more about efforts to protect children from trans medicalization in California, check out ProtectKidsCA.com.
