While many countries throughout the world have placed restrictions or bans on sex alteration surgeries for minors, the U.S. is among the minority of countries that have not significantly limited the controversial procedures.
In fact, in addition to the absence of a federal law regulating the practice, the Biden administration has sought to pressure states out of passing their own laws limiting the performance of such procedures on children.
A March 31 White House statement read, “[I]n honor of Transgender Day of Visibility, the Biden-Harris Administration is uplifting transgender communities — and especially transgender kids and their families — by celebrating their resilience in the face of hateful anti-transgender laws being advanced across the country.”
“While transgender Americans have an unwavering champion in the President, conservative politicians have advanced hundreds of anti-transgender laws … putting the fundamental rights and freedoms of trans Americans at risk,” the statement claimed. “In the face of these challenges, research shows that, when transgender youth are affirmed and supported, they thrive.”
“There is conclusive scientific evidence that affirming a transgender or LGBTQI+ child’s identity is vital to protecting their mental health,” it continued. “State-level policies that stigmatize transgender children, for example by denying them access to medically necessary health care … contribute to worse mental health outcomes.”
However, numerous other countries across the world have restricted, delayed, or banned the administration of sex-characteristic procedures for children.
While states that permit the practice often only require a self-declaration to initiate transgender hormone administration or surgery, many European countries have established more stringent criteria to be met before such procedures can be administered, including age limits and psychotherapy requirements.
Drs. Stanley Goldfarb and Miriam Grossman of the advocacy group Do No Harm discussed the topic in a co-authored New York Post opinion piece.
“Western and Northern Europeans generally see affirmation leading to rapid medical interventions as unethical and dangerous,” the doctors wrote. “Overall, the most progressive countries in Europe are notably more conservative, with a clear focus on safeguarding children.”
The Manhattan Institute’s Leor Sapir argued that such safeguards are more in line with emerging scientific studies than the American position, suggesting that state lawmakers “who seek to ban these interventions entirely are being more faithful to the findings of the European evidence reviews.”
“The evidence supports … caution,” Goldfarb and Grossman wrote, since “[t]here’s an extremely high likelihood — confirmed by almost a dozen studies — that childhood-onset gender incongruence will resolve on its own by adolescence or adulthood.”
U.S. activists who advocate against child sex alteration have echoed these concerns domestically.
Chloe Cole, an 18-year-old biological female who underwent sex alteration surgery but later detransitioned, suggested, “What Biden was saying is dangerous. … He’s trying to advocate for further experimentation on children,” per the New York Post.
Similarly, Brian Wagoner, a biological male who used estrogen treatments for years before deciding to return to living as a man, suggested that part of the issue prompting the American medical community to support easily obtained sex alteration surgeries and treatments is the financial incentive.
“There’s a lot of money to be made by doctors here. They see the dollar signs, and in the end, money talks,” Wagoner told the New York Post.
When Texas recently banned child sex alteration surgeries, however, other activists condemned the state for allegedly endangering children identifying as transgender, as reported by The Dallas Express.
The ACLU of Texas promised to fight the law, saying, “Abbott can’t stop trans youth from thriving in Texas — and we’ll take him to court to make sure of it.”
“We are doing everything in our power to preserve access to this life-saving, evidence-based health care,” the group claimed.