Pros And Cons Of Growth Attenuation Therapy: The Ashley Treatment

Growth Attenuation Therapy, also referred to as the “Ashley Treatment” is a medical procedure that involves inflicting hormones such as estrogen in the body in order to accelerate the closure of growth plates. As a result, there is a 20-40% reduction in height and weight, attenuating the size of the body as a whole. This treatment first started when the parents of Ashley, a girl with severe developmental disabilities, decided to do the treatment in order to give Ashley a better quality of life. They are now able to give her love and care easily, because of her more mobile, compact size as opposed to caring for her at her estimated adult size of over 5’5. She can participate in more family activities and events; living what is closer to a normal
life. And as the treatment becomes more popular, the number of children who go through the procedure also increase. Since they won’t be able to live a normal life, go to school, get married or have kids, parents want to just give them love and care for as long as they can. Realistically, it is a practical solution for both the parent and the child. But despite all of the benefits of growth attenuation, it requires heavy sacrifices such as bodily dignity and freedom of life, violating the basic rights of a child to growth and development. Therefore it remains as a mere scientific procedure that is futile to the real issue at hand.

Foremost, every living being has a right to grow and develop.
It is a fundamental characteristic of a living thing. Growth attenuation violates that right. It stops the growth of the child as well as the child’s overall potential. Hypothetically, if the child had the potential to improve later on, or was simply misdiagnosed, yet proceeded with growth attenuation, any further development from the child would simply be put aside due to the confinement that comes with this procedure. They become more disabled, in a way. They are stripped of their dignity, purpose and freedom of living through something as simple as restricting their size. It degrades their value through the way people see them and how they see
themselves.

Furthermore, by proceeding with the therapy, the guardian of the individual will definitely play God in the person’s life.
The child who undergoes the treatment will have no control whatsoever on what’s being done to their bodies, regardless of whether they want it done or not. Their life is put under the complete control of other people. Also by proceeding with the therapy, they essentially say that disabled people are merely a thing to be fixed; a mistake. Which is not true at all because all creation is made in the image of God. It was planned and intentional to give that person a disability. . "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…"-Jeremiah 1:5 ‘Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?..." Exodus 4:11-12 God can use anyone to glorify Himself and His plan regardless of their health or status. For a person to try to change that and to try to end all possibilities on the basis of a disability, is
preposterous.

Ultimately, the root of this entire problem is the fact that disabled people aren’t getting the correct care and treatment they need and deserve. There are so many risks in institutionalization; sexual, physical, and verbal abuse are ongoing issues for the disabled. What kind of parent would want to put their child in that situation? Society often tries to solve profound ethical and social issues with science. Practical procedures that try to cover up the shame of the fact that disabled people are being mistreated. Growth attenuation may keep a child safe from those matters, but it won’t solve the major issue at hand and at the same time it significantly affects the child. It is not therapy. There is not illness being treated. It is purely a sad attempt at trying to fix society’s problems.

All people are made in God’s image regardless of their disability. Things like growth attenuation are made in order to try to fix the disabled as if they were something to be fixed; to hide the shame of them and the things that happen to them. But disabled people are people. They have rights to grow, live and thrive. In reality, growth attenuation only benefits the caregiver, not the child. As believers, we believe that every living thing is precious in the eyes of the Lord and should be valued because people shouldn’t have to be restricted to a certain size in order to be given respect care and freedom to a normal life.