Children's hospital offers 'gender-affirming hysterectomies' to 'eligible' teenagers

BOSTON (TND) — Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH), a nationally renowned hospital ranked number one in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, was the first major pediatric hospital in the country dedicated to providing life-altering surgical procedures for gender-dysphoric youth.

The Center for Gender Surgery at Boston Children's Hospital offers gender affirmation surgery services to eligible adolescents and young adults who are ready to take this step in their journey,” BCH’s website reads.

Among the “gender-affirming” surgeries offered at BCH are “gender-affirming hysterectomies,” which involve the removal of the cervix, or the lower, narrow end of the uterus that forms a canal between the uterus and vagina, as well as the fallopian tubes.

Hysterectomies, which are irreversible, are commonly used for cancer patients and a litany of other gynecological health problems. Now, one of the nation’s leading hospitals wants to remove healthy cervixes and fallopian tubes, which would permanently prevent a patient from being able to bear children.

The hysterectomy procedures are done through BCH's gynecology department, which specializes “in gynecologic care for newborns to young adults.”

We pride ourselves in providing the answers you seek in simple language that children, teens, and parents can understand — from addressing common concerns such as missed periods, heavy bleeding, pelvic pain, and endometriosis to managing more complex conditions like congenital anomalies of the reproductive tract,” BCH's website on pediatric gynecology states.

On BCH’s same pediatric gynecology webpage, underneath a subheading that reads “Delivering Specialty Care” which lists the treatments offered by BCH's pediatric gynecologists, “transgender reproductive health” is included.

Our team are world leaders in the care of teens with endometriosis, Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, complex anomalies of the reproductive tract, and transcare,” the webpage continues. “We also work closely with the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center’s Fertility Preservation Program to give young girls with cancer a chance to have their own families in the future.”

Erika Sanzi, director of outreach at nonprofit Parents Defending Education, told The National Desk (TND) that she fears the infusion of gender ideology in schools around the country will ultimately lead to this sort of “mutilation” of healthy bodies.

A world renown pediatric facility proudly talking about removing the uteruses of healthy young girls in the name of gender affirming care is terrifying,” Sanzi told TND.

According to the eligibility requirements for BCH’s “Gender Surgery Program," minors as young as 15 can receive breast augmentation and double mastectomies with parental consent, but phalloplasty and metoidioplasty surgeries require patients to be 18, while 17-year-olds can access vaginoplasties.

The program’s webpage makes no indication about hysterectomies.

In addition, for those gender dysphoric patients who don’t meet the BCH Gender Surgery Program’s age requirements, such as infants, BCH can still provide them with programs and resources to help determine “whether surgery is needed,” the “risks and benefits of potential surgeries” and if “treatment with hormones” is needed.

The predecessor program, called the Behavioral Health, Endocrinology, Gynecology, Urology (BEING-U) program, “is dedicated to providing care and support to infants, children, adolescents and young adults.” The program’s approach also includes helping parents “decide whether to raise your child as a girl, as a boy or with some other gender designation.”

The Behavioral Health, Endocrinology, Gynecology, Urology (BEING-U) Program at Boston Children’s Hospital is aware of — and respects — the evolving perspectives regarding genital surgery,” states the BCH webpage discussing its BEING-U program. “After convening an interdisciplinary group to review our policies and practices, Boston Children’s has decided that we will not perform clitoroplasty or vaginoplasty in BEING-U patients who are too young to participate in a meaningful discussion of the implications of these surgeries, unless anatomical differences threaten the physical health of the child.”

As a result of this change in practice, we recognize and respect that families may decide to seek care elsewhere," the BCH webpages concluded.