‘Don’t Tie Doctors’ Hands’ – Deputy Health Minister Defends Clinical Freedom in Anti-LGBTQ Bill Debate
The Member of Parliament for Essikado-Ketan and Deputy Minister for Health, Grace Ayensu-Danquah, has urged Parliament to avoid inserting restrictive language in the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, that could limit medical professionals in delivering care.
Contributing during the consideration stage of the bill in Parliament, Prof. Ayensu-Danquah stressed that doctors must retain full clinical discretion when treating patients, regardless of the nature of their condition or the circumstances that led to it.
She cautioned that qualifying medical procedures too narrowly in legislation could unintentionally restrict healthcare delivery and place clinicians in ethical and professional dilemmas.
“I can’t describe some of the things we do. If you qualify it with corrective, you are limiting my ability to treat that person and provide the cure for that person, whether I agree with the behaviour or not,” she said.
The deputy health minister argued that medical practice must remain guided by clinical judgement rather than legislative definitions that could constrain treatment options.
She therefore proposed that surgical and clinical care provisions in the bill be left broad to allow surgeons and medical practitioners to make appropriate decisions based on each case.
“So let’s leave it as surgical… it’s not only about breast or gender change. There are many other clinical conditions,” she explained.
Prof. Ayensu-Danquah noted that a wide range of complex medical conditions, some unrelated to the subject matter of the bill, require professional discretion, adding that doctors routinely manage diverse cases that cannot be easily categorised in legislation.
“There are all kinds of things that happen in clinical practice. So I don’t agree that we should qualify it. Let the surgeons make the decision,” she stated.
She further drew a parallel between legal and medical professions, emphasising that just as lawyers are permitted to represent clients irrespective of circumstances, doctors must also be allowed to treat patients without statutory interference.
“Just like lawyers are making the decision to represent them, let doctors make the decision to provide care,” she said.
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