WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 3, 2026
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) leadership today issued statements commending the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) for protecting children from harmful sex-rejecting procedures following ASPS’s release of its position statement disavowing these treatments for minors with gender dysphoria.
Relying in part on the HHS report Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices, ASPS declared the evidence base supporting sex-rejecting procedures to be “low quality/low certainty.” The ASPS position statement finds 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.”
Penny Marie with Leah Panapa on The Platform, discussing the HHS Report ‘Treatment for Paediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices’.
“We commend the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for standing up to the overmedicalization lobby and defending sound science,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said. “By taking this stand, they are helping protect future generations of American children from irreversible harm.”
“Today marks another victory for biological truth in the Trump administration,” said Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Jim O’Neill. “The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has set the scientific and medical standard for all provider groups to follow.”
“When the medical ethics textbooks of the future are written, they’ll look back on sex-rejecting procedures for minors the way we look back on lobotomies,” said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD. “I applaud the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for placing itself on the right side of history by opposing these dangerous, unscientific experiments.”
“Almost daily, another major hospital system in America is ending the tragic and irreversible practice of sex-rejecting procedures for minors,” said HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart. “The American Society of Plastic Surgeons is bravely standing with Secretary Kennedy in courageously leading on this critical issue.”
ASPS was founded in 1931 and represents more than 11,000 physician members as a leading authority on cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery.
Citing the HHS report, the ASPS position statement describes the natural course of gender dysphoria, which considers what occurs when a condition remains untreated. Among children, the vast majority of those with gender dysphoria tend towards resolution without medical intervention, and among adolescents, existing evidence suggests that the majority will remit as well. The position statement emphasizes the HHS report’s consideration of the ethical implications of medical interventions for a condition that may be resolved without such interventions.
When considering the principle of autonomy, the HHS report concludes that “respect for patient autonomy does not negate clinicians’ professional and ethical obligation to protect and promote their patients’ health.” The ASPS position statement similarly finds that adolescent autonomy does not obligate a medical professional to provide sex-rejecting procedures not supported by evidence.
The New Zealand situation on genital surgery for minors
- The NZ guideline and subsequent health‑system material treat genital surgery as an adult (18+) service, with access via the national Gender Affirming Genital Surgery Service.
- For under 18’s, the focus is on social transition, blockers and hormones rather than genital surgery; any consideration of chest surgery in older adolescents is individualised and subject to strict assessment and consent processes.
- PATHA recently produced it’s updated ‘Guidelines for Gender Affirming Healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand’
- Youth under 18 can access puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and (in some cases) chest surgery through specialized services
- 375 people are currently on the waitlist for genital surgery (as of June 2025) – Source: Te Whatu Ora
- Dr Rita Yang is New Zealand’s only specialist genital affirmation surgeon
- Multiple surgeons offer chest/top surgery for transgender patients with appropriate assessment.
- There is a growing number of Gender Clinics throughout NZ including Gender Dynamix Aotearoa in Tauranga – see below. These clinics take referrals from children, allegedly directly through schools.
- At Let Kids Be Kids we hear of parents taking their teenage daughters overseas for private double mastectomy operations.
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