Hundreds of girls aged 12 and under have had ‘top surgery’ to remove their breasts in the US since 2017, data suggests.
And more than 6,000 girls aged 13 to 18 had the ‘gender-affirming’ surgeries in that time, according to an analysis seen by DailyMail.com.
It comes after the Biden Administration came out against transgender surgeries for children in June for the first time, marking a major pivot from its earlier stance.
High profile Democrats, including Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, had previously claimed sex change surgeries ‘don’t happen’ on children.
Researchers at the conservative Manhattan Institute think-tank carried out what they call the biggest ever analysis of transgender care for minors, reviewing more than 4billion insurance claims from 155million people between 2017 and 2023.
The above graph shows the number of gender-affirming top surgeries carried out in the US by year according to the analysis
Overall, they found that between 5,288 and 6,294 children under 18 years old had ‘top surgeries’ over the six years studied.
‘Top surgery’ or a double-mastectomy is a type of gender-affirming care where the breasts are removed in order to masculinize the chest.
There were also between 50 to 179 girls aged 12 years and under who they said had the procedure.
The team calculated two estimates, a ‘conservative’ one — using only children diagnosed with gender dysphoria — and a ‘liberal’ one — which also looked at children diagnosed with other disorders, such as an endocrine disorder, who then had a double-mastectomy.
The researchers said doctors may sometimes record a child suffering from gender dysphoria as one suffering from a separate condition.
The team said, however, that their figures may be an under-estimate because they did not include procedures paid for out-of-pocket.
Puberty in girls normally begins around the ages of 10 or 11, with breast development being the first physical change that youngsters experience.
The above map shows states that have banned aspects of gender-affirming care for children
Surgery to remove the breasts leaves long scars on the chest below the nipples, and also leaves youngsters at risk of a serious infection or a loss of sensation in the chest or nipple area. It cannot be reversed.
At least 23 Republican states have banned the surgery for minors, citing concerns over its health effects and youngsters ability to understand the effect of the procedures.
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But at the federal level, there is no age limit on gender-affirming surgeries or other gender-affirming care.
In their analysis, researchers analyzed insurance claims data from health systems, data aggregators and other healthcare databases nationwide.
Data was analyzed for patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria who then received a double mastectomy or ‘top surgery’.
A previous research letter published by JAMA suggested there were only 489 ‘top surgeries’ per year in 2019 — far below the estimates for this study.
But it was based on the Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample, which only covers 34 states and an estimated 68 percent of the US population.
In a separate study in JAMA, it was suggested that 3,678 children aged 12 to 18 years old underwent gender-affirming surgery from 2016 to 2020 — or about 735 per year.
This included those receiving top surgeries, as well as facial feminization or masculinization surgery. It is not common to do genital surgery.
Another analysis carried out at Kaiser Permanente Northern California health system found just 209 minors got top surgery between 2013 and 2020. Of these, 10 were aged 12 to 13 years old.