by WorldTribune Staff, February 4, 2026 Real World News

The American Medical Association (AMA) has changed its position on trans surgeries for minors.

Shortly after a plastic surgeons group issued guidance urging members to wait to perform trans surgeries until the patient turns 19, the AMA announced it opposed such surgeries on minors.

“The evidence for gender-affirming surgical intervention in minors is insufficient for us to make a definitive statement,” the AMA told National Review.

The AMA, however, still supports puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in minors who identify as the opposite sex.

The AMA said it agreed with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), which announced that “surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.”

“When evidence regarding benefit is limited, natural history is uncertain, and fully informed consent a challenge, ASPS believes that plastic surgeons should adopt a posture of heightened caution, enhanced documentation, and explicit uncertainty disclosure, recognizing that their role is not simply technical but ethical,” the ASPS guidance states. “Shared decision-making in this setting not only requires multidisciplinary input, but clear surgeon judgment regarding whether proceeding with irreversible surgery is consistent with the patient’s long-term welfare.”

ASPS is the first major medical association to clearly disavow gender-transition surgeries for minors. The organization represents more than 11,000 physicians and was founded in 1931.

The ASPS announcement followed a New York jury’s $2 million award to a detransitioner against the psychologist and surgeon who allegedly pushed her into a double mastectomy at 16 despite her youth and mental illness, in the first such malpractice suit to go before a jury.

Dozens more detransitioners — people who received life-altering gender surgeries, in many cases when they were children — have filed similar medical-malpractice lawsuits.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) applauded ASPS, saying in a statement that the association is “protecting children from harmful sex-rejecting procedures.”

“We commend the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for standing up to the overmedicalization lobby and defending sound science,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said. “By taking this stand, they are helping protect future generations of American children from irreversible harm.”

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  American Medical Association now opposes gender surgery for minors, WorldTribune.com