We Need To End This Practice

On Friday, American Greatness reported the following:

A new peer-reviewed study has revealed the true extent of efforts to promote life-altering “gender transition” surgeries to children, with a staggering increase in “top surgeries” altering children’s chest areas over the last several years.

The Daily Caller reports that the study, conducted by Dr. Galen Perdikis, Dr. Salam Al Kasis, and Rishub Karan Das, determined that between the years 2016 and 2019, “the annual number of gender-affirming chest surgeries increased by 389 percent.” The study was published by the pediatric network of the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on October 17th.

The 389 percent increase translates to roughly 1,130 total surgeries performed on children under the age of 18, according to the study. “Top surgery” refers to the alteration of a child’s chest area, most commonly involving girls having their breasts removed because they believe they are boys. As such, the study shows that the vast majority of cases involved girls, with 1,114 of the surgeries being performed on females, with the remaining 16 involving boys receiving artificial breasts to appear feminine.

“Psychiatric conditions were the most common comorbidities,” the study reported. “21.1 percent of patients had anxiety and 16.2 percent had depression. Only 19.9 percent of adolescents who underwent chest reconstruction used gender-affirming hormone therapy.”

The article concludes:

“Transgenderism” is the debunked ideology that falsely claims there are more than two genders, and that anyone can suddenly change their gender at any time. Advocates of transgenderism have called for allowing underaged children to make their own decisions about their body and gender identity without the consent of their parents, and thus to undergo such procedures as surgeries and hormone-blocking therapy, which are known to cause irreversible mental and physical damage.

This medical practice is harming our children. It needs to be stopped immediately. If an adult chooses to attempt to change their gender identity, they are old enough to make that decision. However, a child should not be allowed to make such a major, irreversible decision on their own.