Biden’s Stance Against Transgender Minor Surgeries Revealed
TL/DR –
The Biden administration announced it opposes gender-affirming surgery for minors, clarifying its stance after staff in the office of Assistant Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services Rachel Levine urged an international transgender health organization to remove age minimums for such surgery from its treatment guidelines. The proposed guidelines would have lowered the age minimums for hormonal treatments to 14, mastectomies to 15, breast augmentation or facial surgeries to 16, and genital surgeries or hysterectomies to 17; the final guidelines released in 2022 removed age-based recommendations entirely. The Biden administration, which supports gender-affirming care for transgender youth, maintains its opposition only to surgeries and not other treatments.
Biden Administration Opposes Gender-Affirming Surgery for Minors
The Biden administration recently opposed gender-affirming surgery for minors, stating that the decision was not supported by scientific research. This is a significant stance from a president who has been a strong advocate for transgender rights.
The White House announcement came in response to a New York Times article revealing that staff members of Adm. Rachel Levine, an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, urged an international transgender health organization to eliminate surgery age minimums for minors from their treatment guidelines. The final guidelines, released in 2022, did just that.
Administration’s Position on Treatments
The administration has been supportive of gender-affirming care for transgender youth, opposing only surgeries for minors that critics have pointed out are usually irreversible. The issue of medical care for transgender adolescents has become increasingly controversial, especially in conservative political circles. For instance, the Texas Supreme Court recently upheld a state law banning all gender-affirming medical treatment for minors.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge brought partly by the Biden administration to a Tennessee law that bans treatments including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery for transgender minors.
Gender-Affirming Care for Minors and Its Frequency
According to a two-page explainer on gender-affirming care frequently cited by federal officials, gender-affirming surgeries are typically used in adulthood or on a case-by-case basis in adolescence. Other treatments like puberty blockers are used during puberty, and partly irreversible hormone treatments with estrogen or testosterone are used from early adolescence onwards.
However, despite the increased attention to the issue, gender-affirming surgeries among minors in the US remain rare. The procedures include surgeries to remove or augment the breasts, operations on genitals and reproductive organs, and surgeries to modify facial features.
Transgender Healthcare and the Biden Administration’s Support
The Biden administration has been a strong supporter of transgender individuals, affirming their rights to gender-affirming care, opposing state legislation targeting transgender people, and taking steps to combat violence against transgender individuals.
However, this supportive stance was recently tested when Florida proposed laws in 2023 targeting transgender residents, which included a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. President Biden described these efforts as “terrible” without elaborating on specific policies.
On the other hand, Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, announced a plan in 2023 to pass a federal law banning all gender-affirming care for minors, which he referred to as “child sexual mutilation”.
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