Musk Recommends Life in Prison for Parents Who Sterilize Children
Tesla founder and Twitter CEO Elon Musk doubled down on his previous criticism of adults who allow minors to undergo gender transition procedures on April 14, stating that the sterilization of children through such procedures should be punishable with life imprisonment.
“Any parent or doctor who sterilizes a child before they are a consenting adult should go to prison for life,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
The tech billionaire’s comment came in response to another user’s post mocking an MSNBC opinion piece criticizing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his policies relating to parental rights, among other issues.
Any parent or doctor who sterilizes a child before they are a consenting adult should go to prison for life
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2023
Musk, who has a child that identifies as transgender, has been outspoken in his disapproval of gender-transitioning minors in the past.
Just last month, in another Twitter exchange, he took aim at adults who encourage children to undergo such procedures, holding that they were feeding kids “propaganda.”
“Moreover, every child goes through an identity crisis before their personality/identity crystallizes,” he added. “Therefore, we shouldn’t allow severe, irreversible surgery or sterilizing drugs that they may regret until at least age 18.”
Musk’s open critiques have met with backlash from those who feel children are capable of making such decisions for themselves.
Taking notice of Musk’s latest comments on the matter on Friday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) stepped in to voice her support.
“I agree,” she said. “That’s why I introduced the Protect Children’s Innocence Act that makes it a felony to perform gender affirming care on children under the age of 18.”
The “Protect Children’s Innocence Act” would make gender transition procedures—including surgeries, puberty-blocking drugs, and cross-sex hormones—on minors a felony. Greene introduced the legislation last year, but it was never voted on.
While speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in March, the congresswoman vowed to reintroduce the bill now that Republicans control the House.
“It couldn’t pass last Congress because, like I said, Nancy Pelosi was the Speaker of the House, and she doesn’t believe in gender at all,” Greene said. “But we have a new Speaker in our Republican majority in the House of Representatives, and I’m going to be introducing my bill … that will make it a felony to perform anything to do with gender-affirming care on children.
She added: “This isn’t just a right-wing extremist idea, everyone, that we should protect children from making a horrible mistake, because many of these kids do realize it’s a mistake and they hate what they’ve done to themselves. … There’s independents, Democrats, Republicans all over America that agree that we need to let kids be kids.”
