Vanderbilt temporarily halts performing body mutilating sex-change surgeries on kids
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has agreed to temporarily stop performing body mutilating sex-change surgeries on minors suffering from gender dysphoria following backlash from the public and elected officials.
Jason Zachary, a Republican state representative from Tennessee, shared a letter on Twitter that he received from the Nashville-based medical center on Friday.
VUMC Deputy CEO and Chief Health Systems Officer Dr. C. Wright Pinson wrote in the letter that “we are pausing gender affirmation surgeries on patients under 18” while the hospital works to conduct a clinical review to ensure that its practices comply with recently issued guidelines from the World Professional Association of Transgender Health.
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Pinson added that “VUMC’s policies and practices allow employees to request an accommodation to be excused from participating in surgeries or procedures they believe are morally objectionable.”
The response follows a Sept. 28 letter written by Zachary and other members of the Tennessee House Republicans asking the Vanderbilt Board of Directors to “take immediate action by halting all permanent gender transition surgeries being performed on minor children” and “honor all conscientious objectors whose religious beliefs prohibit their engagement in certain medical procedures.”
Please see Vanderbilt Medical’s response to the @tnhousegop.
— Rep. Jason Zachary (@JasonZacharyTN) October 7, 2022
VUMC has agreed to pause gender transition surgeries on minors as well as honor religious objectors. https://t.co/xXlbSaAOMSpic.twitter.com/4G8laJfQfY
This is a time in which elected leaders must boldly lead and speak on behalf of the people.
— Rep. Jason Zachary (@JasonZacharyTN) September 28, 2022
I’ve been joined by my esteemed @tnhousegop colleagues in formally requesting that Vanderbilt Medical halt all gender transition surgeries on minors.
1/ pic.twitter.com/FgiRdLHEM4
Zachary’s letter to Vanderbilt came after The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh unveiled the findings of an investigation revealing that “Vanderbilt drugs, chemically castrates, and performs double mastectomies on minors.”
Walsh shared the contents of an archived webpage illustrating how the hospital provides “gender-affirming hormone therapy” and “pubertal blocking” to trans-identified youth.
Walsh also expressed concern about a video showing a Vanderbilt health law expert deriding requests for “conscientious objections” to participating in disfiguring surgeries as “problematic” and suggesting that if “you don’t want to do this kind of work, don’t work at Vanderbilt.”
Pinson claimed in the reply letter that "comments from videos posted on social media that are obtained at these kinds of events should not be construed as statements of VUMC policy. We do not condone discrimination against employees who choose to request accommodations.”
Pinson said that as many as five minors younger than 18 had body mutilating surgeries performed on them. He added that “all were at least 16 years of age, none have received genital procedures and parental consent to these surgeries was obtained in all cases.”
He further insisted that VUMC remained in compliance with Tennessee law that prohibits providing "hormone treatment for gender dysphoric or gender incongruent prepubertal minors."
The controversy surrounding Vanderbilt comes as children’s hospitals across the U.S. are receiving increased scrutiny over their reported embrace of such practices that disfigure children and teenagers' bodies for life.
Recently, Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., was also accused of performing body mutilating surgeries on teenagers, which it has denied.
The allegations came from Chaya Raichik, who operates the Twitter account LibsofTikTok, who released an audio recording of an exchange between her and staff at the D.C.-based hospital in which the employee said the hospital offers such procedures.
While proponents of body mutilating surgeries for minors characterize such procedures as necessary to improve mental health outcomes for children with gender dysphoria, critics warn of their adverse longterm effects.
Alabama, Arizona and Arkansas have implemented legislation prohibiting such surgeries on minors, while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has classified gender surgeries for minors as a form of child abuse.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
