White House says transgender surgeries should NOT be performed on children, in major pivot

The Biden administration has said that transgender surgeries should not be performed on children, in what appears to be a major pivot.

Revealing the stance in a statement today, a White House spokesperson said 'deeply personal decisions' like operations should be reserved for over-18s only.

They still support other forms of gender-affirming care for minors, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

It appears to be a departure from the White House's former position, with Biden himself having previously slammed Republican states for restricting children's access to surgeries. A member of his administration has also been drafting guidance on lowering the age limit for gender-affirming care.

Some LGBT groups were quick to hit-out at the shift, calling it 'flat wrong' and accusing the President of being 'wrong on the science and wrong on the substance'.

The shift in view was first revealed by The 19th News, a news outlet that covers gender, politics and policy.

A White House spokesperson said in an email: 'These are deeply personal decisions and we believe these surgeries should be limited to adults.

'We continue to support gender-affirming care for minors, which represents a continuum of care, and respect the role of parents, families, and doctors in these decisions.'

Gender-affirming surgeries are operations that aim to align a person's physical body with their gender identity.

They include a mastectomy — or 'top' surgery — where breast tissue is removed to create a more masculine chest, and a breast augmentation, or the insertion of breast implants to create a more feminine chest.

At least 800 children aged 12 to 18 years old receive gender-affirming surgeries every year in the US, according to a study that analyzed data from nearly every state. The vast majority received breast or chest surgery.

Many clinics refuse to carry out gender-affirming care for under-18s, while Arizona has brought in a ban on this type of surgery for minors.

The US is an outlier in the western world when it comes to transgender care, with many European countries seeking to limit surgeries and hormone-therapy for children because these are often irreversible.

They include the UK, where puberty blockers are now only prescribed in clinical trials, and Sweden, which began to restrict hormone therapy for minors last year.

This is amid a surge in reports that the effects of gender-affirming treatments are poorly studied, and suggestions that many children who identify as transgender have other conditions such as autism which may contribute to their diagnosis. 

It comes after just last week, emails revealed that Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Adm. Rachel Levine, who is a trans woman, has drafted guidelines pushing for age limits to be removed from gender-affirming surgeries. 

Previous guidelines recommended lowering age limits to 14 for hormonal treatments, 15 for mastectomies, 16 for breast augmentation or facial surgeries, and 17 for genital surgeries or hysterectomies, the New York Times reported. 

The White House's toned down stance has drawn immediate criticism from LGBTQ organizations.

Kelly Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said Wednesday: 'The Biden administration is flat wrong on this.'

'It's wrong on the science and wrong on the substance. It's also inconsistent with other steps the administration has taken to support transgender youth.'

But some medical organizations have supported Biden's new stance, stating that maturity could better indicate if gender-affirming care is appropriate for an individual. 

Nonprofit The Endocrine Society, for example, recommends waiting until age 18 for genital surgery. 

To date, 25 Republican-led states since 2021 have adopted laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The severity, however, depends on the state.

In Arizona, surgery is prohibited while other forms of care are permitted. But in Texas, laws prohibit doctors from prescribing any gender-affirming care to transgender minors.