The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has paused all gender transition surgeries for minors following an explosive report about their pediatric gender services and a letter from state legislators demanding the practices stop, according to a letter from VUMC.
“We are pausing gender affirmation surgeries on patients under age 18 while we complete this review, which may take several months. In addition, we understand this issue is likely to be taken up by the General Assembly in its next legislative session. As always, we will assure that VUMC’s programs comply with any new requirements which may be established as a part of Tennessee law,” the letter read.
VUMC offered medical procedures to minors who identified as transgender to help them present as the opposite sex, including hormones and double-mastectomies, according to the Daily Wire. VUMC was also accused of pressuring employees with conscientious and religious objections to transgender medical procedures, and in one video a hospital employee reportedly boasted about how profitable cross-sex hormones and surgeries, including genital surgeries, could be for the hospital.
The institution pledged to comply with any new requirements that come out of the January session of the state legislature, noting that lawmakers will likely address the issue in the coming term. The medical center also said it was pausing all gender surgeries on minors pending an internal review of its practices in light of new standards from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, though WPATH’s new guidelines do not have age restrictions for surgeries.
Please see Vanderbilt Medical’s response to the @tnhousegop.
VUMC has agreed to pause gender transition surgeries on minors as well as honor religious objectors. https://t.co/xXlbSaAOMS pic.twitter.com/4G8laJfQfY— Rep. Jason Zachary (@JasonZacharyTN) October 7, 2022
“We appreciate VUMC’s response to the deep concerns expressed and the specific requests made by the TN House GOP Caucus,” Republican Tennessee state Rep. Jason Zachary told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “There is still much work to be done related to the gender disfiguration of minors. Legislation banning this abuse will be a top priority for the House GOP when we reconvene for Session in January.” (RELATED: Hospital Assigned ‘Trans Buddies’ To Pressure Doctors Into Affirming Children’s Gender Identity)
Dozens of Republicans from Tennessee’s House of Representatives urged VUMC to stop performing gender-related surgeries on minors in a Sept. 29 letter following the report, and Zachary told the Daily Caller News Foundation that “all options are on the table” to crack down on the procedures depending on the institution’s response, including a criminal investigation.
“Among those patients under 18 receiving transgender care, an average of 5 per year have received gender-affirming surgical procedures. Contrary to some media reports, all were at least 16 years of age, none have received genital procedures and parental consent to these surgeries was obtained in all cases,” the VUMC letter read.
VUMC did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment,” the letter said.
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