Severino is currently a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), and directs the center's HHS Accountability Project.
As Pennsylvania's health secretary, Levine reportedly supported allowing minors to start hormone therapy, but only with their parents' consent.
In a 2017 address at Franklin & Marshall College on transgender medicine, the health secretary said that teenagers could start taking puberty blockers at the start of puberty, and with the consent of parents, a therapist, and a physician.
For 14-16 year-olds, they could take cross-gender hormones with a gradual dosage increase, Levine said, while most transgender surgeries take place after the age of 18.
Regarding homeless youth who identify as LGBT, Levine said they do not have the "luxury" of protocols, so the transition process could be "accelerated" for them.
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Levine also opposed religious exemptions to the HHS contraceptive mandate that were granted to the Little Sisters of the Poor. Levine called the exemptions "immoral and unethical."
On Thursday, Paul repeatedly questioned Levine on the matter of children transitioning genders.
"Dr. Levine, do you believe that minors are capable of making such a life-changing decision as changing one's sex?" Paul asked.