American Medical Association Says It Still Supports Sex-Change Procedures for Children

Late last month the American Medical Association (AMA) board clarified that the organization still believes doctors should be able to perform sex-change surgeries on children.

In February, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons announced it now recommends delaying sex-rejecting surgeries for children until at least age 19, and at the time many media outlets reported that the American Medical Association also believed these procedures were inappropriate for kids. But in its March newsletter, the AMA board clarified that those media reports were wrong. Its policy on sex-change surgeries actually has not changed.

The letter said:

“AMA policy on gender-affirming care is unchanged. Our recent response to questions about [the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’] position statement was intended to preserve—not diminish—access to gender-affirming care, and to clarify and reinforce what our policy has long reflected and standards of care. The AMA supports gender-affirming care as medically necessary per our policy.”

To put it plainly, this is not good news.

Public health experts and policymakers in the U.S., the U.K., Sweden, Finland, and other nations have found that science simply does not support giving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to kids.

These drugs and procedures carry serious risks — including infertility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density, and cardiovascular problems. Whistleblowers have come forward to testify about how they were rushed through gender transitions as children without understanding the procedures’ risks, consequences, or alternatives.

Today we know pro-LGBT activists and medical organizations have been citing each other’s work in a circular pattern for years, manufacturing a fake consensus about performing sex-change surgeries on kids.

In 2021, lawmakers in Arkansas passed the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act. This good law generally prohibits doctors from performing sex-change procedures on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

A federal court upheld the SAFE Act last year — meaning it is protecting children in Arkansas at this very moment.

Arkansas was the first state in America to enact a law like the SAFE Act, but since 2021 lawmakers in more than half the country have passed similar legislation.

We are deeply grateful that so many public officials are taking steps to protect children from sex-change procedures. Medical groups like the AMA need to step up and protect kids as well. There is simply too much at stake.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.