The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest organization representing physicians, recommended that gender-transition surgeries for children be generally delayed until they reach adulthood.
The new guidance reversed the AMA’s prior endorsement of “transgender” surgeries for kids.
The group said it backpedaled because “the evidence for gender-affirming surgical intervention in minors is insufficient for us to make a definitive statement,” National Review reported Tuesday.
Essentially, the AMA said there wasn’t enough research to show that the risks of life-altering surgeries — such as mastectomies for minors — outweigh their supposed benefits.
The AMA still supports treating children for gender issues by using puberty blockers and hormone drugs, but underscored that surgical interventions should be delayed until the patients become adults.
The new AMA guidance echoed the stance the American Society of Plastic Surgeons announced Tuesday, which recommends that children delay undergoing gender-transition surgeries until adulthood.
“ASPS recommends that surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old,” the group wrote in its Feb. 3 statement.
BREAKING: The American Medical Association Opposes Transgender Surgeries for Minors!
In a statement to National Review, the AMA said “the evidence for gender-affirming surgical intervention in minors is insufficient for us to make a definitive statement,” adding that it “agrees”… pic.twitter.com/AOT00K07NQ
— Freedom Forever (@FreeForeverUS) February 4, 2026
The updated AMA recommendation came a week after a jury awarded $2 million in damages to a woman who got a double mastectomy at age 16, when she identified for a time as “transgender.”
The woman, now 22, testified that she immediately regretted getting her breasts chopped off as a teen and was traumatized at being “disfigured for life,” according to The Epoch Times.
Fox Varian Malpractice Trial Proceedings
– Pre-Surgery Doubts and External Pressures: Before the 2019 double mastectomy at age 16, Varian confided to staff at the Albany Pride Center that she felt significant pressure from family, friends, and culture to decisively choose a male… pic.twitter.com/Jjtsega1gl
— Lerato Pillay 🇿🇦💎🇿🇦 (@LeratoPillayZA) February 2, 2026
With the jury’s decision and the ASPS announcement, the AMA’s change of course was the third major blow to the “transgender” medical establishment in less than a week.
The fact that the largest, most influential group representing doctors has reversed its unrestricted endorsement of gender-related treatments for children suggests that fear of costly lawsuits may restore some common sense into this rogue practice.
Just five years ago, the AMA urged governors to block state laws that would ban gender-transition surgeries for children.
In its absurd April 2021 letter, the AMA claimed cases of gender dysphoria “are normal variations of human identity and expression,” so kids should be allowed to get sex-change surgeries and undergo hormone treatments at any age.
“For gender diverse individuals, standards of care and accepted medically necessary services that affirm gender or treat gender dysphoria may include mental health counseling, non-medical social transition, gender-affirming hormone therapy, and/or gender-affirming surgeries. Clinical guidelines established by professional medical organizations for the care of minors promote these supportive interventions based on the current evidence and that enable young people to explore and live the gender that they choose,” the letter stated. [Emphasis added.]
Of course, common sense shows that this is a reckless approach that endangers children’s physical and psychological safety.
Meanwhile, the American Academy of Pediatrics said decisions about gender-related surgeries for children should be made on a case-by-case basis.
“The A.A.P. continues to hold to the principle that patients, their families and their physicians — not politicians — should be the ones to make decisions together about what care is best for them,” the group said Wednesday, according to The New York Times.
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