The American Medical Association (AMA) appears to have backtracked from its prior support for removing healthy reproductive organs and other body parts from gender-confused children.
The reversal came after the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) officially came out against “gender surgery for children and adolescents” in a “position statement” released on Tuesday.
“ASPS recommends that surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old,” the group stated. The decision followed questions about the alleged benefits of the surgeries. The group similarly made waves in 2024 when it expressed concerns about the procedures in a comment to City Journal.
The new statement cited the fact that most children outgrow their gender confusion as another reason to delay putting an individual under the knife.
The plastic surgeons’ association cited a 2025 report from the Department of Health and Human Services, which found minimal evidence in favor of operating on gender-confused individuals.
However, the group says it opposes efforts to formally prohibit these surgeries on minors, calling it “criminalization of medical care.”
The official stance may have forced the hand of a major medical group that for years has endorsed surgeries for gender-confused kids.
The American Medical Association told National Review, “the evidence for gender-affirming surgical intervention in minors is insufficient for us to make a definitive statement.”
“[T]he AMA agrees with ASPS that surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood,” the group told National Review.
Despite evidence being low for both surgical and chemical interventions, the AMA apparently maintains its support for transgender drugs.
Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. thanked the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for taking a “stand” on this issue.
“We commend the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for standing up to the overmedicalization lobby and defending sound science,” Secretary Kennedy stated. “By taking this stand, they are helping protect future generations of American children from irreversible harm.”
Do No Harm, a medical reform group, also praised the new policy statement.
Chairman Stanley Goldfarb, a former associate dean at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school, called it a “thoughtful, scientific, and well-reasoned statement,” in comments sent to Legal Insurrection.
Other groups praised the ruling and suggested adults should also be protected against the procedures.
“Those over 19 actually deserve decent medical care, too,” Democrats for an Informed Approach on Gender wrote on X.
[Featured image via YouTube]
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