The American Society of Plastic Surgeons issued a position statement recommending that surgeons delay transgender-related chest, genital, and facial surgeries until patients are at least 19 years old. The statement, issued to the group’s 11,000 members, reflected ASPS’s assessment that “there is insufficient evidence demonstrating a favorable risk-benefit ratio for the pathway of gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions in children and adolescents.”
ASPS cited its August 2024 statement that “the overall evidence base for gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions is low certainty,” along with recent publications reporting “very low/low certainty of evidence regarding mental health outcomes,” emerging concerns about potential long-term harms, and “the irreversible nature of surgical interventions in a developmentally vulnerable population.” The organization referenced a comprehensive review from the Department of Health and Human Services, the 2024 Cass Review in Britain, and other research indicating “limitations in study quality, consistency alongside emerging evidence of treatment complications and potential harms,” as well as evidence that “a substantial proportion of children with prepubertal onset gender dysphoria experience resolution or significant reduction of distress by the time they reach adulthood, absent medical or surgical intervention.”
Shift in Medical Guidance
ASPS’s position represents a change from 2019, when the group opposed efforts by states to restrict sex change surgeries. The group first shifted its stance in August 2024, when it said it was working on new guidance given the “considerable uncertainty” about long-term benefits. On the issue of adolescent autonomy, ASPS stated that “patient autonomy is more properly defined as the right of a patient to accept or refuse appropriate treatment; it does not create an obligation for a physician to provide interventions in the absence of a favorable risk-benefit profile, particularly in adolescent populations where decision-making capabilities are still developing.” ASPS said it opposes criminalization of the practice and advocates for “professional self-regulation.”
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised the group for “defending sound science,” while Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Administrator Mehmet Oz stated: “I applaud the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for placing itself on the right side of history by opposing these dangerous, unscientific experiments.”
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/02/03/first-major-medical-group-opposes-sex-mutilating-surgeries-minors/