More than 5,700 children in the United States underwent sex change surgery from 2019 to 2023, according to a new database tracking transgender children's clinics in the country.
The "Does My Hospital Transition Kids?" database was made by Do No Harm, a nonprofit that opposes the politicization of medicine. The database tracked gender-affirming care provided to minors, including puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and sex change surgery. It then mapped providers and hospitals that provided these types of services to minors from 2019 to 2023.
In the four-year period, researchers for Do No Harm found that there were 13,994 minors who received gender-affirming care or treatment for gender dysphoria, a psychological condition characterized by distress that happens when a person's gender identity does not align with their sex assigned at birth.
Of those who received gender-affirming care, more than 5,700 underwent sex reassignment surgery, as reported by the New York Post.
Read more: Dismembered Remains of Transgender Teen Found in Pennsylvania Lake, Suspect May Face Death Penalty
Trans Surgery Procedures in Children
In the report, researchers noted that 4,160 minors underwent breast removal procedures or mastectomies while 660 had phalloplasty, which is a surgical procedure that aims to construct a male reproductive organ for transgender men (individuals assigned female at birth). These procedures are often done to align a person's physical body with their gender identity, which may help alleviate gender dysphoria.
In addition, 8,579 minor patients were put on puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy, the database noted.
In total, the cost of gender-affirming care for the nearly 14,000 patients amounted to $119 million.
In a statement, the nonprofit's Director of Programs, Michelle Havrolla, said they made the database because "body modification surgeries such as so-called vaginoplasties and phalloplasties are irreversible."
"The majority of these patients will end up with life-long complications related to these procedures," she added, as quoted by The Daily Chronicle.
State Where Minors Had the Most Gender-Affirming Care
Of all states in the country, California had more than 2,000 patients who were minors who received gender-affirming care. That accounted for $28 million of the total charges. Following California were New York with 1,154 patients and Massachusetts with 671.
