Health officials in the Biden administration pressed an international group of medical experts to remove age limits for adolescent surgeries from guidelines for care of transgender minors, according to newly unsealed court documents.
Age minimums, officials feared, could fuel growing political opposition to such treatments.
If and when teenagers should be allowed to undergo transgender treatments and surgeries has become a raging debate within the political world.
In the United States, setting age limits was controversial from the start.
The draft guidelines, released in late 2021, recommended lowering the age minimums to 14 for hormonal treatments, 15 for mastectomies, 16 for breast augmentation or facial surgeries, and 17 for genital surgeries or hysterectomies.
Persons:
Biden, Rachel Levine
Organizations:
World Professional Association for Transgender Health, Department of Health, Human Services
Locations:
United States