Adolescent Gender Affirming Care Fact Sheet

• History and State of the Evidence:
  • The first gender affirming clinic is Western medicine was founded in 1919
  • Over 2000 peer-reviewed publications since 1975 have established the safety and efficacy of gender affirming care. Find a list of youth citations here.
  • The Standards of Care were first published in 1979 and updated on average every 5-6 years.
• Rates of Regret:less than 1% in youth
  • Two studies of almost 5000 youth accessing medical gender affirming care found a regret rate of 0.09%
    • The Dutch clinic published a review of 1360 patients seen at their clinic from 1972-2015 which is 95% of the gender care done in the Netherlands which found only 0.6% of transwomen and 0.3% of transmen who underwent gonadectomy were identified as experiencing regret.
    • UK GIC clinicians conducted a records review of 3,398 transgender patients at the Charing Cross, Tavistock, and Portman clinics. They found only two individuals (.06%) who had detransitioned due to regret or deciding that they were not actually transgender
  • A further body of larger research has indicated that young people who have worsening of dysphoria with the onset of puberty have persistence of their transness into adulthood at rates of 96-97.5%
  • One study indicates that most youth who have continued transition or detransition express gratitude for being able to medically explore their gender
• Surgery Rates- gender affirming surgery in people under 18 continues to be VERY rare
  • ~200-250 gender affirming top surgeries in TGD adolescents age 13-17 in 2020
    • A published study on adolescent gender affirming surgery in the US which found that all postsurgical participants (68 of 68; 100%) affirmed the statement, “It was a good decision to undergo chest reconstruction.”
    • Less than 1% of TGD adolescents who had chest reconstruction before the age of 18 had regrets.
  • ~7800 gender affirming top surgeries in non-transgender adolescents age 13-17 in 2020
    • Approximately 5% of adult cisgender women who undergo breast reduction experience regret
    • Approximately 15-30% of adults who undergo knee replacement experience regret 
  • Almost no genital gender affirming surgeries on done on TGD adolescents under the age of 18
  • List of citations for building testimony
• Major Medical Association Support: Every major medical association in the United States has a statement of support for gender affirming care including but not limited to:
  • American Psychiatric Association
    • Founded October 16, 1844
    • Number of members: 37,400
  • American Medical Association
    • Founded May 7, 1847
    • Number of members: 240,359 as of 2016
  • American Public Health Association
    • Founded 1872
    • Number of members: 25,000
  • American Osteopathic Association
    • Founded April 19, 1897
    • Number of members: more than 168,000
  • American College of Physicians
    • Founded January 8, 1915
    • Number of members: 160,000
  • The Endocrine Society
    • Founded 1916
    • Number of members: over 18,000
  • American Academy of Pediatrics
    • Founded 1930
    • Number of members: 67,000
  • American Academy of Family Physicians
    • Founded 1947
    • Number of members: 127,600
  • American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
    • Founded 1951
    • Number of members: 60,0000
  • American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
    • Founded 1953
  • The Pediatric Endocrine Society
    • Founded 1972
    • Number of members 1,500
    • Number of members: more than 10,000
  • The medical organizations (American College of Pediatricians and American Association of Physicians and Surgeons) stating opposition to gender affirming care are small organizations with less than 6000 members nationwide and history of political, not medical foundations. They have no publications that are widely read, nor treatment guidelines that have been adopted as national standards of care. 

Other resources

Get our Legislative Testimony Tips download for free here:

• Erin in the Morn– Independent Trans Journalist who just wrote a piece combating misinformation in the most recent NYT
• Dr. McNamara’s misinformation piece
• Science-Based Medicine (fairly conservative blog written by and for healthcare industry)- great two part blog that gives the science/medicine information in response to come right wing misinformation talking points
  • Gender Affirming Care is Not Experimental
  • Gender Affirming Care is Not Experimental II
• More general
  • HRC Get the Facts
  • NCTE FAQ
  • Journalist Resource – Reporting on Trans Youth and Gender-Affirming Medical Care
  • The Trans Journalists Association’s Stylebook and Coverage Guide