For Immediate Press Release

February 4, 2026

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Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender is pleased the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) has highlighted the lack of evidence for the safety and efficacy of pediatric gender medicine. DIAG has been sounding the alarm about this medical scandal since our founding two years ago.

 

An ASPS position statement released on February 3, 2026, recommends that its members delay gender-related surgeries until a patient is at least 19 years old. DIAG believes all patients deserve evidence-based medical care, and the evidence for the benefits of sex-rejecting procedures is no better for adults than it is for minors. However, by raising its serious concerns, the ASPS makes clear that the oft-touted “consensus of all major medical societies” supporting these interventions simply does not exist.

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Crucially, the ASPS statement goes beyond surgeries. It notes that systematic evidence reviews in the US and Europe have have found only low quality evidence that social transition, puberty blockers and hormones are beneficial. But since the evidence increasingly points to potential harms and longterm complications, the statement says, these protocols carry “heightened ethical, clinical and legal risk.”

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Commendably, the ASPS addressed the questionable ethics of pediatric gender medicine, noting that young people’s ability to consent to life-altering procedures “is a matter of debate.” The policy statement sets the record straight on patient autonomy. It does not mean a physician is obliged to provide treatments when risks outweigh benefits.

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The ASPS made clear its differences with practitioners who cling to the so-called gender-affirming model of care. Plastic surgeons, the policy statement said, cannot justify surgery based on the fact that a patient has had hormone therapy or has a letter of referral. Surgeons must make their own assessments.

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The ASPS is well aware its members face legal risk. In the first malpractice case against gender clinicians to go to trial, a jury last week awarded $2 million dollars to Fox Varian, who had a double mastectomy at age 16. Understandably, the ASPS stated its opposition to policing gender medicine through criminal law or punitive legislation, instead preferring self-regulation—which, we note, has been utterly absent from this field. Still, the ASPS has done a public service by laying out the facts of the case against pediatric gender medicine. We urge other medical associations to read this statement closely and reassess their policies. Our Democratic politicians must take off their partisan blinders and read it closely, as well.

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Media Liaison: Martha Wexler

martha@di-ag.org