Thousands of sex-change operations were performed on trans-identified minors from 2019-2023 in the United States as several states have worked to prohibit the life-altering procedures, a new database shows.
Do No Harm, which describes itself as a coalition of "physicians, nurses, medical students, patients, and policymakers focused on keeping identity politics out of medical education, research, and clinical practice," unveiled a new database documenting the incidence of gender transition procedures on minors with gender dysphoria Tuesday.
The advocacy group found that a total of 13,994 minors underwent some form of "sex-change treatment" from 2019-2023, while a total of 5,747 sex-change surgeries were performed on minors and 8,579 received either cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs during this period.
Sex-change surgeries are procedures that involve the removal of healthy body parts that correspond to a person's biological sex or the creation of artificial body parts that align with an individual's stated gender identity.
Do No Harm's findings also document that all forms of so-called "treatments" performed on minors generated at least $119,791,202 in charges. Overall, a total of 62,882 "sex-change prescriptions" were written for minors suffering from gender dysphoria.
In a statement reacting to the database's launch, Do No Harm Chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb identified the effort as an expansion of "our mission to expose the dangers of experimental pediatric gender medicine and bring the practice to an end."
"This first-of-its-kind project provides patients, families, and policymakers with a resource that reveals the pervasiveness of irreversible sex-change treatments for minors in America," Goldfarb said.
"While this data represents the tip of the iceberg, this is the first step in holding the medical establishment accountable for participating in, and often times promoting, predatory and unscientific medical interventions for children."
The database is based on an analysis of thousands of insurance claims from hospitals and healthcare facilities nationwide. Do No Harm also examined websites and publicly available information on each profiled hospital to determine the services they offer. The organization compiled a data set using procedure codes and drug codes commonly used in "gender-affirming care." These codes were collected from multiple sources, including commercial insurance providers, Medicaid, Medicare and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"The procedure codes and NDC codes were reviewed and assigned corresponding confidence levels to indicate the likelihood they were directly related to a gender-related condition," the website states. "This process was then reviewed by multiple medical professionals and cross-referenced with patient diagnoses for gender-related conditions to accurately determine which procedures and drugs were used for gender medical interventions."
Chloe Cole, a detransitioner who has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of efforts to provide youth struggling with their gender with life-altering gender surgeries, also weighed in on the database in her capacity as Do No Harm senior fellow and spokesperson.
"The new project from Do No Harm proves the lies from the medical establishment and radical politicians who argue that cases like mine are rare," Cole, who says she experienced suicidal thoughts following a double mastectomy she received as a minor, said.
"The stats in this database represent thousands of kids who are being treated like Guinea pigs for unproven, and sometimes dangerous, medical experiments," Cole continued. "I hope politicians and parents alike use this database to see where these treatments are happening and protect their children from being rushed into irreversible, life-altering treatments."
The database contains a detailed breakdown by state and hospital of all gender-change procedures that were performed on minors in the years examined.
While several states have enacted laws banning some or all forms of gender-transition procedures on minors, no such restrictions existed in 2019 or 2020, meaning that they have occurred in all 50 states at some point in the last five years.
Currently, 26 states have laws prohibiting the performance of some or all gender transition procedures on youth with gender dysphoria: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
The efforts to ban the procedures at the state level come amid concerns about their long-term impacts.
The American College of Pediatricians lists potential side effects of puberty blockers as "osteoporosis, mood disorders, seizures, cognitive impairment and, when combined with cross-sex hormones, sterility." Meanwhile, the organization has warned that cross-sex hormones can put youth at an "increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, blood clots and cancers across their lifespan."
As for surgeries, the office of Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has shared images of the unsightly scars left behind from the mutilation of forearm tissue in trans-identified females to create an artificial penis as well as the removal of healthy breasts. The procedures can also have negative effects on the mental health of youth with gender dysphoria.
Cole, one of several detransitioners who once experienced gender dysphoria as a child and once identified as a member of the opposite sex but later saw her discomfort with her biological sex subside as she got older, has filed a lawsuit against the medical professionals who subjected her to gender transition procedures as a minor.
The filing maintained that her experience, including a double mastectomy, left her with "deep physical and emotional wounds, severe regrets, and distrust of the medical system."