ICYMI: The consensus of major US medical groups over youth gender medicine has its first fracture.Over 5,000 girls under the age of 18 had their breasts removed in "gender-affirming" surgeries between 2017 and 2023, according to a study released by the Manhattan Institute.
Between 50 and 179 of the girls who underwent the double mastectomies were 12 years old or younger.
In my new article for @CityJournal I discuss this development and provide new data on the use of “gender-affirming” double mastectomy on teen girls. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ibFp0mbdrg
— Leor Sapir (@LeorSapir) August 13, 2024
Fox News reports:Leor Sapir, PhD, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute whose areas of research include pediatric gender medicine, shared that anywhere from 5,288 to 6,294 double mastectomies were performed on girls under age 18 between 2017 and 2023 — and that 50 to 179 of those girls were just 12 years old or younger.
This was based on analysis of an "all-payer national insurance database," including patients who were previously diagnosed with gender dysphoria and had the treatment covered by insurance, Sapir wrote in an article revealing the findings.
The actual numbers could be higher, the Manhattan Institute claims, because researchers did not include patients who paid for the procedure themselves without submitting an insurance claim.
The cost of a double mastectomy can be as low as $3,000 — making it affordable for many middle-class families to pay out of pocket.
The American College of Pediatricians (ACP) has called on medical associations to abandon support for sex changes among minors.
"As physicians, together with nurses, psychotherapists and behavioral health clinicians, other health professionals, scientists, researchers, and public health and policy professionals, we have serious concerns about the physical and mental health effects of the current protocols promoted for the care of children and adolescents in the United States who express discomfort with their biological sex," the ACP said in a declaration.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons provided the following statement to Fox:
"ASPS does not issue policies favoring or opposing any surgical procedure. The Society does issue Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines, which provide recommendations for patient care based on the best available evidence in the scientific literature. To date, ASPS has not issued a clinical practice guideline on gender surgery for adolescents or adults. We are currently in the stage of assessing the available evidence regarding gender surgery in minors, which, as we stated, is generally viewed as low quality/low certainty."
