What stakeholders are saying about gender-transition interventions for minors

Dave Pearson | February 05, 2026 | Health Exec | Care Delivery

It’s been one week since a gender detransitioner won a $2 million lawsuit against her former psychologist and plastic surgeon—and three days since the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) advised delaying trans operations for young patients until they’re at least 19 years old.

The former development came and went fairly quietly. The ASPS statement of Feb. 3, however, has spurred considerable discussion and debate. The more persuasive of the opinions could redound, eventually, to the reshaping of the principles of pediatric medicine—and of certain policies in public education. Here’s a sampling.

“Currently, the evidence for gender-affirming surgical intervention in minors is insufficient for us to make a definitive statement. In the absence of clear evidence, surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood. Treatment decisions should be made between the physician, patient and family based on the best medical evidence and clinical judgment.”—American Medical Association via numerous outlets
“There is no definitive age or one-size-fits-all approach for every patient, which is why [care decisions] are built on case-by-case assessments, involve experts on adolescent development, and are designed to support thoughtful and ethical shared decision-making in a multidisciplinary field.”—World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)
“As more and more detransitioners arrive in court, the public will learn the full extent of the harm done to kids in the name of an ideology. Clinicians performing these ‘treatments’ will go down in history as barbarous activists who betrayed a sacred oath: to do no harm.”—Mega-selling author and critic of transgender activism J.K. Rowling
“Trans activist Alejandra Caraballo slammed ASPS earlier this week for hypocrisy over the fact that it continues to do thousands of breast reductions per year on cis girls and boys. ‘These can carry substantial risks of loss of function, sensitivity and standard surgical risks,’ Caraballo wrote. ‘Yet ASPS isn’t advising against those.’”—LGBTQ Nation
“The ASPS’s Feb. 3 position statement displays awareness of all recent publications and repeatedly stresses the importance of long-term welfare. The society notes that gender dysphoria often resolves by adulthood without medical intervention—and, as we know, those concerned are largely LGB teens. It is a relief to see the bastion of ‘gender-affirming care’ starting to crumble in the United States, days after the first malpractice verdict in which a woman was awarded $2 million for a double mastectomy in her teens.”—LGB Alliance