The Biden administration has now said transgender surgeries should not be performed on children, in what appears to be a major pivot.
A White House spokesperson said this week that while the administration supports gender-affirming care for minors – hormone drugs and therapy, for example – ‘deeply personal decisions’ like surgery should be reserved only for 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,’ the spokesperson wrote.
The new stance is a departure from previous statements. Biden himself slammed Republican states for restricting children’s access to gender surgeries.
The Biden administration said this week that gender-affirming surgeries should not be performed on children
The White House has previously shown strong support for trans healthcare
And just last week, for example, 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.
At least 20 states have taken steps to restrict or fully ban transition healthcare for trans youth
