The recording, made by Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik, features two telephone operators at the renowned D.C. medical facility stating — in response to Raichik’s questions — that a 16-year-old trans boy would be eligible for a hysterectomy at the hospital’s gender development clinic. Children’s has not disputed the authenticity of the recording but said the employees provided inaccurate information.
“None of the people who were secretly recorded by this activist group deliver care to our patients,” hospital spokeswoman Ariana Ahmadi Perez said. “We do not and have never performed gender-affirming hysterectomies for anyone under the age of 18.”
Such statements have not dispelled the furor Raichik’s Thursday post unleashed. Right-wing media outlets, including Fox News and the Daily Caller, ran stories based on the erroneous information provided in the telephone conversations. A subtitled video of the recording had been viewed more than 800,000 times on Twitter by Friday evening.
In response to a request for comment for this story, Raichik agreed to an interview, with the condition that she be allowed to record it. This story will be updated to include her comments once that interview takes place.
The scrutiny of Children’s comes just weeks after Libs of TikTok similarly targeted Boston Children’s Hospital over its care for transgender people. In that instance, the account highlighted a video produced by the hospital discussing “gender-affirming hysterectomies.”
Libs of TikTok claimed the surgery was being performed on “young girls,” although Boston Children’s officials said the procedure is not available to those under 18. Despite its name, the Boston hospital, like Children’s National in D.C., treats patients into young adulthood. Officials at Boston Children’s likewise said their providers were targeted with threats and harassment after Libs of TikTok brought attention to their programs.
The uproar over transgender care at children’s hospitals comes as lawmakers in many states are seeking to curb LGBTQ rights in classrooms and on athletic fields. From Florida to Kentucky, conservatives are seeking to limit the discussion of gender in schools and bar participation by trans athletes in youth sports, with many on the right baselessly claiming that gay and trans educators are seeking to “groom” and sexually abuse children. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott told the state Department of Family Protective and Services to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming care to their transgender children. That order is being challenged in the courts.
Hysterectomy — the removal of the uterus, cervix and fallopian tubes, sometimes accompanied by removal of the ovaries — can be performed in addition to mastectomy (often referred to as top surgery by transgender doctors and advocacy groups) for people transitioning. But the procedure is almost never offered to children, experts said, and the current standards of care published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health state that the surgery should not be performed on minors.
Dr. Loren Schechter, director of gender affirmation surgery at Rush University in Chicago and a member of the association’s executive committee, said he could recall only one gender-affirming hysterectomy on a minor in 23 years of practice. In that case, he said, the patient was a 17-year-old who had already been in treatment for years and had been…
Read More: Children’s National Hospital: Libs of TiKTok recording on trans hysterectomies triggers threats
