A leading transgender health association is expected to release its new guidance next week that will suggest breast removal for girls as young as 15 and testicle removal for boys as young as 17 is perfectly acceptable.
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) has stated it will release its new guidance before the organization’s annual conference in Montreal on Sept. 16.
“Let me assure you that we are doing everything we can to ensure the SOC8 is ready and available online at the start of the 27th WPATH Scientific Symposium in Montreal, Canada,” WPATH president Walter Pierre Bouman wrote on July 28.
WPATH’s 2011 guidance, Standards of Care Version 7, stated, “Mental health professionals should not impose a binary view of gender. They should give ample room for clients to explore different options for gender expression.” It added, “Genital surgery should not be carried out until patients reach the legal age of majority in a given country, and patients have lived continuously for at least 12 months in the gender role that is congruent with their gender identity.”
“Chest surgery in FtM patients could be carried out earlier, preferably after ample time of living in the desired gender role and after one year of testosterone treatment,” the guidance continued.
But the Associated Press reported in June that the new guidance lowered existing age requirements, noting, “The World Professional Association for Transgender Health said hormones could be started at age 14, two years earlier than the group’s previous advice, and some surgeries done at age 15 or 17, a year or so earlier than previous guidance.”
“The update also recommends … breast removal for trans boys at age 15 … Most genital surgeries starting at age 17, including womb and testicle removal,” AP added.
A Seattle Children’s hospital spokesperson told Fox News Digital: “While we tailor gender-affirming surgical treatment to the individual, patients cared for at Seattle Children’s must first meet a set of specific criteria as outlined in the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards of care.”
“The gender-affirming care we provide is rooted in science and based on the international standards of care set by authoritative medical and scientific bodies – including the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), American Medical Association (AMA), the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) and the American Psychiatric Association (APA),” the spokesperson added.
Stanford Medicine Children’s Health in California states on its website: “We currently follow guidelines set forth by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) for transgender and gender expansive children and adolescents, which include the recommendation to establish stable mental health support.”