Children can’t make adult decisions

OPINION:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other politicians will continue to get support for bills that ban gender-affirming care for minors because many people — not only conservatives, but independents and progressives as well — admit to themselves a simple fact of human nature: We are not born mature (“DeSantis signs bills targeting drag shows, pronouns, bathroom use and transgender children,” web, May 17).

There is a qualitative difference in cognitive-emotional development, experience, judgment and self-understanding between the immature and mature. It is not for nothing that we have age qualifications for the exercise of certain rights, such as voting, drinking, driving, etc.

We have these restrictions to help us avoid the kinds of decisions that make for the three things the ancient Greeks believed most reduced the quality of life: anxieties, fears and regrets. 

ROBERT O. SLATER

Lafayette, Louisiana