“Joe Biden and the New Left are pushing for breast and genital mutilation in teens and young adults.”
America First Legal Radio Ad, October 9, 2022
From Spanish-language stations in Corpus Christi, Texas, to sports talk shows in Tennessee to pop radio in Detroit, radio ads targeting the care of transgender youth began airing in cities across the country this fall. The ad, which was funded by a political advocacy group founded by longtime speechwriter and senior adviser to former President Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, was deemed highly inflammatory by one radio station owner. It has been pulled away from major markets.
America First Legal’s one-minute script titled “Not Anymore” accuses President Joe Biden of “promoting radical gender experimentation” with hormone therapy.
“Joe Biden and the New Left are pushing for breast and genital mutilation in teens and young adults,” the ad claims.
Featuring a male voice speaking to ominous music, the ad urged the White House to take estrogen to make boys look more feminine, and testosterone to encourage girls to grow facial hair. The ad also suggests that Democrats promote puberty blockers to “prevent children from growing up to be normal men and women.”
In August, PolitiFact rated a similar statement by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as “mostly false.” DeSantis-appointed state medical boards banned minors from undergoing hormone treatments and surgeries in early November. Since it highlights what has become a hot topic in the wider cultural debate ahead of , we decided to investigate further.
First, I checked with America First Legal for the basis of that statement. The group did not respond to repeated emails or phone calls. However, its general counsel, Gene Hamilton, issued a statement to Politico regarding the news coverage of the ad.
America First Legal documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission by Detroit radio station WDRQ-FM and obtained by KHN and PolitiFact revealed a more specific justification for the ad’s claims.
It cites a two-page explanation published by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs in March 2022. His first two paragraphs describe gender-affirming care as “consisting of a range of services, including medical, surgical and mental health.” , and non-medical services” to transgender people and that “early gender-confirmation care is critical to overall health and well-being as it allows the child or adolescent to focus on social transitions.”
The document appears to communicate the importance of gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary children, but does not specifically endorse surgery.
What exactly is White House policy?
When the Biden administration was asked about the ad during a briefing at the White House, spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said simply, “Transgender rights are indeed human rights.”
HHS declined to explain its position on gender reassignment surgery, but released a statement to KHN saying spokesperson Adam Sarvana called it a “disturbing wave of radical attacks on our nation’s most vulnerable children.” I explained that I had called.
“The Biden-Harris administration trusts parents, but unfortunately we see interference in the medical decisions of those who endanger life-saving care,” he said.
The message suggests an explicit endorsement of gender-affirming care, especially to address the high suicide rate among transgender teens. One White House fact sheet says the administration “identifies the positive impact of gender-affirming care on the mental health of young people.” The White House views access to care as a civil rights issue for transgender people.
The White House statement is largely consistent with statements from major medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics. A professional association representing 67,000 pediatricians has likewise been accused of promoting gender-affirming care, but AAP president Dr. I’ve dodged things.
“Critics of our gender-affirming care policy misinterpret it as imposing medical or surgical treatment on young people. In fact, the policy calls for the opposite: It’s a holistic, supportive and compassionate approach to care with no end goal or agenda,” she wrote in an August blog post.
What about guidelines?
An America First Legal advertisement points out the problem of surgery, especially for teens and young adults. This in itself is complicated.
The World Association of Transgender Health Professionals guidelines were updated in September to expand the permissible range of genital surgery for minors. However, such operations are rare. Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which has been at the center of an uproar over a pediatric transgender care clinic, says it has never performed genital surgery on minors.
Mastectomy has become more acceptable to teenagers under the new WPATH guidelines. Although their numbers have increased in recent years, they remain relatively small compared to hormone therapy, a far more common treatment for teenagers. According to a Reuters analysis of insurance claims data, the number of “top surgeries,” which refers to mastectomy, is increasing each year, but fewer than 300 minors undergo surgery each year.
Dr. Michele Hutchison, director of pediatric endocrinology at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, laughed off the idea that the Biden administration is pushing for such surgeries.
“Patients are the only people I’ve met who are pushing it,” said Hutchison, who also cared for transgender youth in Arkansas. “If anything, we, as medical professionals, are usually like, ‘Let’s try it.’ Stop and think. “
Hutchison said she never recommended genital surgery to minors.
Does policy equal promotion?
The truth of this ad depends on whether or not the White House promotes gender-affirming care. South Carolina pediatrician and his LGBTQ+ advocate Dr. to be read.
“Documents from HHS do not promote or advance medical care so much as they are described in technical terms,” he said.
Even the leaders of the Association for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine are completely skeptical of accelerating gender-affirming care, saying, “It is not accurate to say that the Biden administration is pushing these interventions on children.” Stated.
“Children are probably not reading government statements in support of gender-affirming care,” said a social spokesperson. “The politicization of transgender health is proving to be deeply problematic and unhelpful. Unfortunately, much of the United States has taken a politicized approach on both sides of the debate. .”
our ruling
The ad reads, “Joe Biden and the New Left advocate breast and genital mutilation for teens and young adults.” Experts in the field, LGBTQ+ advocates, and even critics of gender affirmation say they feel the message is misleading.
Some media outlets, including Florida-based Beasley Media Group, said in internal emails published in FCC filings that the firm’s attorneys had “insufficient evidence to support their allegations,” Some of the advertising spots were also pulled by Pittsburgh’s iHeartMedia station.
Biden’s policy specifically lists surgery among the “line of services” that should be available, stating that “early gender-confirming care is critical.” However, the ad excludes other types of care, such as mental health services, which are considered a starting point for care for this at-risk population.
A key factual issue with this ad is its use of the words “advertise” and “push.” Seeing a treatment option available doesn’t mean it’s being pushed, and casting it that way is hyperbolic.
We assess this claim as false.
sauce
Federal Communications Commission/Katz Media Group, filing containing ad justification from America First Legal, accessed October 27, 2022
Federal Communications Commission/Katz Media Group, Philadelphia and Detroit Advertising Cancellation Petition, accessed October 27, 2022
Office of Population Affairs and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Gender-Affirming Care and Young People” Guidance, March 2022
Telephone interview with Dr. Michele Hutchison, Chair of Endocrinology, University of New Mexico Health Science Center, October 27, 2022
Direct message interview with Dr. Michael O’Brien, a pediatrician in residency at the Medical College of South Carolina, November 3, 2022
Telephone interview with Aurea Bolaños Perea of Colorado LGBTQ+ advocacy group COLOR Latina on October 27, 2022
Moira Szilagyi, President, American Academy of Pediatrics Blog Post, Aug. 10, 2022
Email statement from Adam Sarvana, Communications Director, HHS Assistant Secretary of Health, October 27, 2022
PolitiFact, ‘They are literally ripping out the private parts of young children’, 10 Aug 2022
Endocrine Society, “Gender Dysphoria/Gender Mismatch Guidelines Resource”, 1 September 2017
Global Professional Association for Transgender Health, Standards of Care, 2022
Email reply, Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine, 24 October 2022
