(The Daily Signal) — Transgender advocates repeatedly claim that minors only take “puberty-blocking” drugs or cross-sex hormones, but never undergo surgeries in an attempt to force their male or female bodies to resemble the opposite sex, yet a new study estimates that more than 3,000 minors underwent transgender surgeries in a five-year period, and more than 400 of them had their genitals removed.
The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study Wednesday estimating that 48,019 Americans underwent “gender-affirming surgeries” from 2016 to 2020, and 3,678 of them underwent surgery between ages 12 and 18.
In the study, Columbia University researchers estimated that 3,215 of those minors underwent “breast/chest surgery” and 405 of them underwent “genital surgery.” Meanwhile, 350 underwent “other cosmetic procedures.”
The study did not reveal the age of the youngest patient who undertook “genital surgery,” which involves the removal of male or female reproductive organs and the creation of a false version of the opposite sex’s organ. Such surgeries often involve the removal of skin from other parts of the patient’s body to create the facsimile.
The much-touted Dutch study that first gave credence to the idea of transgender medical interventions ultimately involved a male subject who died from an infection after surgeons tried to use some of his digestive tract to construct a false vagina.
Pro-transgender organizations like the Endocrine Society and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health do not recommend genital surgeries for those under the age of majority, and hospitals claim that they do not perform such surgeries on minors, but this data suggests otherwise.
Earlier this year, the head of a facility that carries out such surgeries published a study finding that “the level of life satisfaction in transgender people was not increased in transgender people who had undergone gender-affirming surgery, as compared to those who were unoperated.” German experts in Hamburg published that study in May in the peer-reviewed journal BMC Public Health.
Many states have passed laws banning “gender-affirming care” for minors, and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have filed lawsuits to block them. Federal courts have issued conflicting rulings on the laws, and one of the cases ultimately may head to the Supreme Court.
Tyler O'Neil
Tyler O'Neil is managing editor of The Daily Signal and the author of "Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center."
