Former President Donald Trump’s campaign indicated on Tuesday that he would make performing transgender surgeries on minors without parental consent a felony.
The promise appeared in Trump’s prepared remarks for his Tuesday rally at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department in Howell, Michigan. Excerpts of his prepared remarks were released by his campaign ahead of the event.
“And to protect our children from sexual mutilation, we will make it a felony for any medical professional to perform surgery on a minor without parental consent,” Trump’s remarks read.
Members of the Trump campaign shared the news about the former president’s vow on social media.
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“BIG NEWS,” posted Karoline Leavitt, the campaign’s national press secretary.
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Trump’s remarks also said he would be “asking for the death penalty for child rapists and child traffickers.”
Transgender medical interventions on minors, which include double mastectomies of girls’ healthy breasts as well as puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, have become one of the most controversial cultural issues of the last several years.
The Biden administration has pushed to keep such interventions legal for minors, arguing against age restrictions for some transgender procedures in one Alabama court case, documents show.
At least 25 U.S. states have passed restrictions on transgender surgeries and hormone treatments for minors. Republicans in state legislatures have butted heads with Democrats on whether to keep the treatments legal.
Transgender surgeries like double mastectomy and phalloplasty for females and vaginoplasty for males are not reversible. Genital surgeries are less commonly performed on children, but some trans-identifying minors go on to receive them as adults. Some of the effects of hormone treatments, such as voice damage, are also irreversible.
Last year, Trump promised to task several federal agencies with working to “stop” transgender medical interventions for minors, calling it “child abuse.”
Additionally, Trump had said he would prohibit federal agencies from working to “promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age.”
The Republican nominee also said last year that he would push schools to “promote positive education about the nuclear family” and “the roles of mothers and fathers.”
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Detransitioners, people who underwent transgender surgeries and hormone treatments at a young age but now express regrets, have spoken out in recent years about how the treatments harmed them. Some have accused their doctors of not addressing their underlying mental issues, such as autism, anxiety, or depression, before shunting them towards transgender medicalization.
Meanwhile, parents have reacted strongly to public schools secretly affirming their children’s new gender identities behind their backs.
More than 19,000 schools across the country have rules saying school staff can or should hide a student’s gender identity from parents, according to a list compiled by Parents Defending Education.
Only about 44% of Democrats said they are opposed to schools counseling children on their sexual orientation and gender identity without parental knowledge, one poll found last year.
