Boston Children’s Hospital Touts ‘Gender-Affirming’ Care for Adolescents and Young Adults

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - MARCH 16: A surgeon and his theatre team perform key hole surgery to
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Boston Children’s Hospital offers what it describes as a “full suite of surgical options,” sharing a video earlier this year proudly detailing what a “gender-affirming” hysterectomy entails.

An April video, which is no longer available publicly, was posted to the Boston Children’s Hospital’s YouTube channel, featuring attending physician Frances Grimstad, MD, MS, Division of Gynecology, detailing what she described as a “gender-affirming” hysterectomy, which the hospital only recently insisted is limited to patients 18 and older. Patients 15 years and older may receive “chest surgery” if they meet requirements, which include gender dysphoria, according to the hospital’s Center for Gender Surgery

According to Lead Stories, a previous statement on the hospital’s Center for Gender Surgery website indicated that patients as young as 17 years old could undergo a vaginoplasty, but the hospital now says, “All genital surgeries are performed on patients age 18 and older.”

“Some gender-affirming hysterectomies will also include the removal of the ovaries, but that’s technically a separate procedure called a bilateral oophorectomy, and not every gender-affirming hysterectomy includes that, and people who are getting gender-affirming hysterectomies do not have to have their ovaries removed,” she added.

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Upon further review, it appears Boston Children’s Hospital prides itself on offering what it describes as an “LGBTQ affirming environment” for patients, expressing commitment to “providing comprehensive and affirming treatment to our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) patients and families.”

Further, the hospital’s website features a section devoted to its Center for Gender Surgery which offers “gender affirmation surgery services” for “eligible adolescents and young adults.” The hospital touts the surgery center as the “first center of its kind in the U.S. in a major pediatric hospital setting.”

“As the first pediatric center in the country dedicated to the surgical care of transgender patients, we take an interdisciplinary approach from the start to ensure exceptional patient care,” the hospital states, bragging of its team of specialists who “collaborate to provide a full suite of surgical options for transgender teens and young adults.” The hospital appears to be particularly proud of its anesthesia team, which it says provides “culturally sensitive care to the gender-diverse community.”

According to the website, the surgery center offers a range of “gender-affirming” surgeries, including chest reconstructions, breast augmentations, facial harmonizations, vaginoplasties, metoidioplasties, phalloplasties, “and other gender affirmation surgeries to eligible patients.”

While the hospital states that it follows World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) guidelines to treat individuals who are proven to be “stable” in their chosen gender,  it adds that one does not need be a Gender Multispecialty Service (GeMS) patient to have surgery at the hospital’s Center for Gender Surgery.

“Founded in 2007,” the hospital’s site explains, “GeMS was the first major program in the U.S. to focus on treating gender-expansive and transgender adolescents. Since that time, we have expanded our program to welcome patients from ages 3 to 25.”

The willingness to surgically address a child’s gender dysmorphia is controversial nationwide as the radical left continues to push woke gender ideology on children in classrooms. Florida is among the states that has openly challenged the “science” of transgenderism. With the consultation of experts, a 45-page report from Florida Medicaid “concludes that sex reassignment surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross sex hormone treatments for people with gender dysphoria are not proven as ‘safe or effective’ treatments and are ‘experimental and investigational,'” as Breitbart News detailed.

“Studies presenting the benefits to mental health, including those claiming that the services prevent suicide, are either low or very low quality and rely on unreliable methods such as surveys and retrospective analyses, both of which are cross-sectional and highly biased,” the document reads.

Sad teen with a phone in her bedroom - stock photo Single sad teen holding a mobile phone lamenting sitting on the bed in her bedroom with a dark light in the background

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Breitbart News’s Katherine Hamilton explained:

According to the report, Medicaid has a rule which mandates that sex reassignment treatments, as a condition of coverage, must be “consistent with generally accepted professional medical standards (GAPMS) and not experimental or investigational.” Overall, the document concludes that existing studies do not provide enough solid research to substantiate these treatments,  despite endorsements from large clinical organizations.

Texas officials tried to take action earlier this year, as Gov. Greg Abbott (R) directed state agencies to investigate instances of transgender procedures done on children as child abuse, prompting backlash from the radical left.

Breitbart News reached out to Boston Children’s Hospital, asking how it justifies performing such procedures on adolescents given the mounting criticisms that they are not fundamentally based in science and actually hurt children. Breitbart News also asked how many “gender-affirming” surgeries the hospital performed on children in the last year but received no response to either inquiry.

This report follows the continuing trend of radical leftists sexualizing children, including teaching them to pole dance at pride events and celebrating their “coming out” as the opposite gender at pride festivals, as recently occurred at the Vancouver Pride Parade.

Editor’s Note:  This story and headline have been updated to reflect that the Boston Children’s Hospital Center for Gender Surgery has changed its guidelines and added a new statement to its website that “All genital surgeries are only performed on patients age 18 and older.”   

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