Dr. Rachel Levine, Rand Paul Spar At Senate Confirmation Hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine's confirmation hearing Thursday to be federal assistant secretary of health turned contentious when Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky began his questioning with remarks railing against genital mutilation.

After noting that genital mutilation has been nearly universally condemned, Paul subsequently demanded to know Levine's position on gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy for minors - despite the fact that such treatments for gender dysphoria rarely occur with children.

"Dr. Levine, do you believe that minors are capable of making such a life changing decision as changing one's sex?" he asked.

Levine, who would become the federal government's highest-ranking publicly transgendered official if confirmed, did not answer Rand's queries to the senator's satisfaction.

"Transgender medicine is a very complex and nuanced field with robust research and standards of care that have been developed," she responded. "If I am fortunate enough to be confirmed as the assistant secretary of health, I will look forward to working with you and your office and coming to your office and discussing the particulars of the standards of care for transgender medicine."

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, the chair of the Health, Education Labor and Pensions Committee, later admonished Paul for his remarks as she addressed Levine.

"I appreciated your thoughtful and medically-informed response to Sen. Paul's questions earlier in the hearing," Murray said. "It is really critical to me that our nominees be treated with respect and that our questions focus on their qualifications and the work ahead of us rather than on ideological and harmful misrepresentations like those we heard from Sen. Paul earlier."