{"id":1642282,"date":"2022-09-15T23:34:14","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T03:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1642282"},"modified":"2022-09-15T23:35:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T03:35:03","slug":"leading-transgender-health-association-releases-new-guidelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leading-transgender-health-association-releases-new-guidelines\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading Transgender Health Association Releases New Guidelines"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fleading-transgender-health-association-releases-new-guidelines%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1642282&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The leading <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/transgender\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transgender<\/a> health association has released its much-anticipated new guidelines. One aspect noticeably different from previous editions is that the explicitly stated minimal age recommendations for minors to obtain puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries have been removed.<\/p>\n<p>The new guidance also suggests that if parents do not affirm their child\u2019s newly chosen identity, the state may be enabled to intervene in order to assist with the child\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n<p>The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/26895269.2022.2100644\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published<\/a> its Standards of Care 8th Edition in International Journal of Transgender Health on September 6, 2022. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/26895269.2022.2125695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">correction<\/a> was published in the same journal on September 15, which removed sections pertaining to \u201cminimal ages for gender-affirming medical and surgical treatment for adolescents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>WPATH guidelines are considered the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/06\/15\/magazine\/gender-therapy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gold standard<\/a> for the field of health care for those diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and are widely used in hospitals and clinics across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. WPATH guidelines are highly influential to major medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, as well as for health insurance companies around the world.<\/p>\n<p>A confidential draft of the 8th Edition was released for public review in December 2021 that lowered the recommended minimum age for minors to obtain cross-sex hormones \u2014 which cause permanent changes to the body \u2014 from 16 to 14, and irreversible chest, face, and genital surgeries to 15, 16, and 17, respectively. Little has changed from the early draft, and while WPATH no longer provides explicit minimum age recommendations in their latest official guidelines, a close reading finds that age suggestions for some procedures are woven into the text.<\/p>\n<p>Chapter 6 on adolescents in the new guidelines suggests that cross-sex hormones may be administered to children as young as 14. \u201cMore recent guidelines suggest there may be compelling reasons to initiate [gender affirming hormone therapy] prior to the age of 16, although there are limited studies on youth who have initiated hormones prior to 14 years of age.\u201d However, these are only guidelines, and not hard rules that must be followed.<\/p>\n<p>In the same chapter, guidance is issued for \u201cchest masculinization surgery,\u201d otherwise known as a double mastectomy, which is the removal of healthy breasts. \u201cChest masculinization surgery can be considered in minors when clinically and developmentally appropriate as determined by a multidisciplinary team experienced in adolescent and gender development.\u201d Though no precise age is indicated, most pediatric gender clinics will perform double mastectomy surgeries on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC9000168\/pdf\/jcm-11-01943.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">15 year olds<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Guidance on vaginoplasties, the creation of a pseudovagina using existing genital tissue, indicates they may be obtained as a minor. \u201cWhile the sample sizes are small, these studies suggest there may be a benefit for some adolescents to having these procedures performed before the age of 18,\u201d reads the guidelines.<\/p>\n<p>WPATH also indicates that vaginoplasty is often performed on minors, citing a <a href=\"https:\/\/sci-hub.se\/https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jsxm.2017.02.007\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2017 study<\/a>. \u201cA 2017 study of 20 WPATH-affiliated surgeons in the US reported slightly more than half had performed vaginoplasty in minors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The only genital surgery it seems the WPATH is comfortable setting an age recommendation for is phalloplasty, which creates a penis-like phallus from skin grafts taken elsewhere on the body. \u201cGiven the complexity of phalloplasty, and current high rates of complications in comparison to other gender-affirming surgical treatments, it is not recommended this surgery be considered in youth under 18 at this time.\u201d But again, these are only recommendations.<\/p>\n<p>WPATH\u2019s new guidance also suggests that parental consent for minors to obtain medical treatments are recommended, but not required, and that state powers may intervene if a parent does not affirm their child\u2019s chosen identity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c6.11- We recommend when gender-affirming medical or surgical treatments are indicated for adolescents, health care professionals working with transgender and gender diverse adolescents involve parent(s)\/guardian(s) in the assessment and treatment process, unless their involvement is determined to be harmful to the adolescent or not feasible.\u201d (emphasis added).<\/p>\n<p>Statement 6.11 in Chapter 6 on adolescents further elaborates: \u201cHelping youth and parent(s)\/caregiver(s) work together on important gender care decisions is a primary goal. However, in some cases, parent(s)\/caregiver(s) may be too rejecting of their adolescent child and their child\u2019s gender needs to be part of the clinical evaluation process. In these situations, youth may require the engagement of larger systems of advocacy and support to move forward with the necessary support and care (Dubin et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/26895269.2022.2100644#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2020<\/a>).\u201d (emphasis added).<\/p>\n<p>In the Appendix is a \u201cSummary Criteria for Adolescents\u201d that further demonstrates that parents should be involved unless their involvement is deemed \u201charmful\u201d or \u201cnot feasible\u201d to their child\u2019s medical transition. \u201cInvolvement of parent(s)\/guardian(s) in the assessment process, unless their involvement is determined to be harmful to the adolescent or not feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cSummary Criteria for Adolescents\u201d continues without minimal age recommendations. Instead, WPATH suggests that both puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones may be administered when a child reaches <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthline.com\/health\/parenting\/stages-of-puberty#tanner-stages\">Tanner Stage 2<\/a>, meaning at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The leading transgender health association has released its much-anticipated new guidelines. One aspect noticeably different from previous editions is that the explicitly stated minimal age recommendations for minors to obtain puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries have been removed. The new guidance also suggests that if parents do not affirm their child\u2019s newly chosen identity, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1642284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1642282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1642282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1642284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1642282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1642282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1642282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}