The American Society of Plastic Surgeons released a statement recommending doctors refuse gender-related surgeries for transgender patients under the age of 19, a move the Trump administration is calling a win.
“ASPS concludes there is insufficient evidence demonstrating a favorable risk-benefit ratio for the pathway of gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions in children and adolescents. ASPS recommends that surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old,” the ASPS recommendation reads.
The Department of Health and Human Services and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised the group for its recommendation. Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill called the ASPS recommendation a “victory for biological truth in the Trump administration.”
“We commend the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for standing up to the overmedicalization lobby and defending sound science,” Kennedy said. “By taking this stand, they are helping protect future generations of American children from irreversible harm.”
The ASPS cited a 2025 HHS report titled “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices” as part of its reasoning behind the recommendation. The group said the Trump administration HHS report “contributed to a clearer understanding of potential harms,” and highlighted the “limitations of the available evidence” surrounding gender-related surgeries in minors.
The plastic surgeons group affirmed that their position does not “seek to deny or minimize the reality of any patient’s distress,” or “question the authenticity” of their experience with gender dysphoria, a state in which patients question whether their sex aligns with their gender identity.
“Instead, ASPS affirms that truly humane, ethical, and just care, particularly for children and adolescents, must balance compassion with scientific rigor, developmental considerations, and concern for long-term welfare,” the ASPS statement said.
The ASPS’s stance differs from its previous position on the topic. In 2024, the group had “not endorsed any organization’s practice recommendations for the treatment of adolescents with gender dysphoria.” It maintained that it was actively “reviewing and prioritizing several initiatives that best support evidence-based gender surgical care to provide guidance to plastic surgeons.”
With its previous nonendorsement, the group has maintained a more conservative stance on the issue than its industry counterparts. The American Academy of Pediatrics, for example, recommends transgender surgeries typically for adults but only allows for adolescent surgeries “on a case-by-case basis with the adolescent and the family along with input from medical, mental health, and surgical providers.”
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz compared the issue to lobotomies in a statement.
“When the medical ethics textbooks of the future are written, they’ll look back on sex-rejecting procedures for minors the way we look back on lobotomies,” Oz said. “I applaud the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for placing itself on the right side of history by opposing these dangerous, unscientific experiments.”
