In a statement, the Catholic doctors said that the dispensation of a medical opinion is "very serious in terms of public health."

According to the association, the law, approved on Friday in the Portuguese parliament, "excludes the medical profession, has no scientific basis, as it does not rely on any medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, and dispenses with the medical treatment necessary for these cases."

The Catholic doctors maintain that the law is not based on "new scientific discoveries, nor was it requested by Portuguese doctors," and is supported by a "gender ideology," which is "a cultural construct, a product of culture and human thought, being totally unrelated to biology."

"This theory is based on the radical idea that the male and female sexes are nothing more than a mental construct, and it is up to the individual to choose their own gender identity," they stress.

But, they say, "science, and medicine in particular, does not accept the absolute supremacy of the psychological/sociocultural dimension over sexual identity."

According to the Catholic doctors, the ideal is for "harmony between the two," considering it unethical "to provoke artificial psychopathological disorders by spreading a radical ideology designed to create a 'new man.'"

The doctors said it is strange to allow a change of gender at an age when young people are still not yet considered mature enough to vote, drive a car or drink alcohol.

"It is questionable whether a 16-year-old is able to decide, in a mature, free and responsible manner, about a gender change," they said,noting that at this age the prefrontal cortex (involved in emotional responses and decision-making) has not yet reached full development, so there are no neurobiological conditions of maturity for a decision of this nature.

The law does not guarantee the exclusion of other psychiatric diseases that may be the origin of this request, the Catholic doctors' association said, arguing that these pathologies should be evaluated and treated by psychiatrists and other competent health professionals.

The association reported that there are cases of gender dysphoria in the general population, whose prevalence is "very low" (0.003% - 0.005%), and it believes that it is a risk for the Portuguese parliament to produce haphazard legislation on such a sensitive matter."