Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) charged a Democratic witness to cite evidence for her claim that sex change treatments were beneficial for children — which she was unable to do.

In a heated exchange posted to Twitter by The Post Millennial, Crenshaw repeatedly asked Dr. Meredithe McNamara, a professor at the Yale School of Medicine, who has written extensively in defense of “gender affirming care” and abortion, to provide peer-reviewed evidence that such treatments are beneficial to children. McNamara was unable to cite one study, falling back on the undefined “standards of care.”

“‘The standards of care.’ That’s not a journal. That’s not a study. That’s not an organization. It’s not an institution. You’re just saying words. Name one study,” Crenshaw chided.

Crenshaw cited reviews from the British Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the Endocrine Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which all conclude there is little evidence that gender transition treatments are beneficial for minors.

He cited a review in the Journal of the Endocrine Society that found there is “low quality evidence for the idea that hormonal treatment improves quality of life, depression, and anxiety among adolescents.”

Democrat witness can’t name ONE study that shows how transgender procedures are beneficial for kids

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— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 14, 2023

Dr. McNamara pushed back, saying, “It is very unscientific and flawed to pick a single study or a single statistic and discuss it in isolation. Medical experts are able to talk about all the evidence as a whole.”

“Totally agree,” Crenshaw said. The Texas Republican went on to cite the British Journal of Medicine, which looked at 61 systematic reviews and concluded that there was “great uncertainty” of the treatments.

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Crenshaw pointed out that “the important part” was that because these findings were “systematic reviews,” they are by definition “all encompassing review[s] of all the data” and are not “cherry-picked” evidence, as the witness claimed.

Crenshaw then asked McNamara, “Do you not agree — just from an ethical standpoint — that you might want extremely strong evidence of the benefits?”

McNamara continued to push back, eventually citing “the standards of care” as evidence for why those treatments were beneficial. Crenshaw noted that the Yale doctor was unable to name a single study, journal, or review that supported the idea that such treatments were beneficial.

The debate occurred on the House Health Subcommittee in consideration of Crenshaw’s bill that would block federal funding for hospitals that provide gender transition treatments like cross-sex hormones and sex change surgeries.

Earlier in the hearing, Crenshaw attacked Democrats’ use of the term “standards of care,” saying that the schematic reviews he cited show that Democrats are using the term as “propaganda” and not as “an accurate representation of the data.” He further contended that “gender-affirming care” is founded in “pseudoscience and radical ideologies.”

Crenshaw also pointed to a May Washington Post poll that showed 68% of Americans disapproved of using puberty blockers on minors, arguing that such a contentious issue should not be funded by the federal government since most taxpayers disagree with it. He cited the Hyde Amendment — which bars taxpayer money funding abortion at the federal level — as a precedent for his legislation.

“Let’s not put taxpayer money toward something that is so obviously unproven and contentious. It’s really not that contentious — 70% of Americans oppose it, so the American people are pretty much on the side of not doing this, or at least pressing the pause button,” Crenshaw said. He also pointed out that the U.K.’s National Health Service limited access to such procedures by minors.

Archeologists have uncovered three previously unknown shipwrecks, including one dating as far back as the first century BC, in a stretch of the Mediterranean Sea known for wrecks, according to findings announced at a UNESCO press conference last week.

The discoveries were made by an international team of 20 researchers in August and September of last year. While discussing their findings for the first time, they announced that one ship dates to between the first century AD and mid-second century AD, and two other previously-unknown wrecks date to the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to the new discoveries, archeologists revisited Roman wreck sites to further document the ships and surrounding artifacts.

“When we found the new ships it was a [feeling] of relief because of all the effort we have all put in and that there are still things to learn from such a heavily looted area and that there is still something to protect,” Alison Faynot, a UNESCO archeologist, told the U.K.’s The National News.

In August, the archeologists boarded the Alfred Merlin research vessel, which is equipped with underwater imaging and mapping equipment. With this technology, they cataloged numerous shipwrecks that date between a time frame of roughly 2,000 years. Using remotely operated vehicles, they collected images and video of both the wrecks and the artifacts with them, according to CNN, with one of the ROVs reaching a depth of nearly 3,000 feet.

Researchers discovered the three previously unknown wrecks sitting on the floor of the Tunisian continental shelf using an ROV. The ships were discovered in the Keith Reef in the Skerki Bank — between Sicily, Italy, and Tunisia — which is known as a treacherous region.

According to a UNESCO press release, the ship that dates between the end of the first century BC and the middle of the second century AD was a merchant vessel that sits roughly 213 feet deep. It measures 50 feet long and may have carried wine, based on what appears to be amphoras with the ship, which are large jars used by Romans and Greeks.

Another one of the previously-unknown shipwrecks was a wooden ship that may have been a fishing vessel. The third, identified by UNESCO as a “large motorized metal wreck,” has davits that are facing out, meaning the lifeboats could have allowed passengers to escape the sinking ship, according to the organization. Both of these vessels date from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century, and researchers hope they will eventually be able to identify the ships using archives.

Three Historical Shipwrecks Discovered in the Mediterraneanhttps://t.co/1SgR1mS5bs pic.twitter.com/l8nND7t0Js

— Sarah (@Sarah404BC) June 11, 2023

“Underwater heritage is very important,” Faynot said. “People see underwater cultural heritage as a treasure and something to collect, but it is really significant. All its little details give us so many clues about where we come from.”

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The Roman shipwrecks that were revisited date between the first century BC and the first century AD, and were initially discovered between 1980 and 2000. Researchers further photographed and studied the wrecks, including the artifacts that surround the sites. Pots, lamps, amphoras, ceramics, and building materials were nearby the wrecks, and it’s likely the ships were once part of a trading system between different cultures, CNN notes.