Parents Can't Stop Woman's Gender Reassignment Surgery, Bucks County Judge Rules

A Bucks County judge ruled Wednesday that the parents of a 48-year-old transgender woman cannot stop her from undergoing gender reassignment surgery.

Christine Kitzler, a South Carolina woman who was scheduled for the gender reassignment surgery Tuesday in Bucks County, was stopped after her parents filed a legal injunction, the Associated Press reports.

Klaus and Ingrid Kitzler of Cleveland, Ohio, say their child should not be allowed to get the surgery because she is not competent to make an informed decision, the Associated Press reported.

On Wednesday, during an emergency hearing, a Bucks County judge dismissed the parents’ effort to stop the surgery, saying the Kitzlers failed to provide “clear and convincing evidence” that she was incompetent, ABC News reported.

“I would rather die than live the way I was and return to my bad addictions,” Kitzler told reporters during a break in the emergency hearing, the Associated Press reported.