(LifeSiteNews) — The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) has officially come out against committing surgical “gender transition” procedures on minors, in a major shift for the medical establishment.
The Position Statement, dated February 3 and sent to the society’s 11,000 members, declares that in “light of recent publications reporting very low/low certainty of evidence regarding mental health outcomes, along with emerging concerns about potential long-term harms and the irreversible nature of surgical interventions in a developmentally vulnerable population, ASPS concludes there is insufficient evidence demonstrating a favorable risk-benefit ratio for the pathway of gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions in children and adolescents. ASPS recommends that surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old.”
The statement explains that, as of August 2024, ASPS had not settled on any specific guidelines on the question to endorse, noting that the evidence was “limited and characterized as low quality/low certainty.” The organization’s understanding “continued to evolve” as more comprehensive reviews of the evidence became available.
It says that common talking points in favor of youth “transitions,” such as “patient values and preferences” and “emerging adolescent autonomy” are insufficient justifications that do not adequately account for long-term, evidence-based calculation of risks versus benefits.
The document does, however, also oppose the “criminalization” of such procedures, saying it believes “regulation of medical care is best achieved through professional self-regulation, rather than criminal law or punitive legislative approaches. Although ASPS members may hold differing viewpoints on specific issues related to gender-related medical and surgical care for adolescents or adults, the Society remains united in its support for a regulatory environment that allows physicians to exercise independent professional judgment, guided by the best available evidence, established ethical frameworks, and patient welfare. Nevertheless, ASPS advises Members to remain aware of state laws concerning transgender and gender-diverse individuals that may impact their practices.”
Still, the document marks a major victory for opponents of “transitioning” minors, and a sign that more mainstream professional associations will follow suit. The Washington Post calls ASPS the “first major medical group” to oppose the practice.
“We commend the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for standing up to the overmedicalization lobby and defending sound science,” U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. responded. “By taking this stand, they are helping protect future generations of American children from irreversible harm.”
A large body of evidence shows that “affirming” gender confusion carries serious harms, especially when done with impressionable children who lack the mental development, emotional maturity, and life experience to consider the long-term ramifications of the decisions being pushed on them, or full knowledge about the long-term effects of life-altering, physically-transformative, and often-irreversible surgical and chemical procedures.
Studies find that more than 80 percent of children suffering gender dysphoria outgrow it on their own by late adolescence and that “transition” procedures fails to resolve gender-confused individuals’ heightened tendency to engage in self-harm and suicide – and even exacerbate it, including by reinforcing their confusion and neglecting the actual root causes of their mental strife.
Many oft-ignored detransitioners attest to the physical and mental harm of reinforcing gender confusion, as well as to the bias and negligence of the medical establishment on the subject, many of whom take an activist approach to their profession and begin cases with a predetermined conclusion in favor of “transitioning.”
“Gender-affirming” physicians have also been caught on video admitting to more old-fashioned motives for such procedures, as with an 2022 exposé about Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Clinic for Transgender Health, where Dr. Shayne Sebold Taylor said outright that “these surgeries make a lot of money.”