“Boston Children’s Hospital is now offering ‘gender-affirming hysterectomies’ for young girls.”

A viral tweet falsely claims that a pediatric hospital is offering surgical treatment for transgender children.

“Boston Children’s Hospital is now offering ‘gender-affirming hysterectomies’ for young girls,” read an Aug. 11 tweet from Libs of TikTok, a conservative Twitter account with more than 1 million followers. 

“This is monstrous,” Stephen Miller, who worked in the Trump administration, tweeted in a reply to Libs of TikTok. “How does anyone involved in this still have a medical license?”

Libs of TikTok’s tweet included a video of a physician at Boston Children’s Hospital discussing gender-affirming hysterectomies — or the removal of the uterus, cervix and fallopian tubes. 

Nowhere in the 33-second video did the physician suggest that the procedure is offered to children. The notion, however, seemed to rely on the hospital having “children” in its name. 

The Center for Gender Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital did not respond to PolitiFact’s request for comment. 

Although the Center for Gender Surgery is inside a pediatric hospital, medical treatment is offered only to “eligible adolescents and young adults,” the center’s website said.

The hospital adheres to medical guidelines developed by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, or WPATH, which doesn’t recommend surgical treatment for children.

“Surgery is never the first step in a gender transition,” reads the hospital’s website. “It is something that happens after you have already explored social and medical transition options.”

The procedures highlighted in the tweet — hysterectomies — are done in connection with genital reassignment surgeries such as phalloplasty and metoidioplasty. 

To qualify for the procedure at Boston Children’s Hospital, patients must be 18 or older and have a letter from a medical doctor stating they have “persistent, well-documented, gender dysphoria,” per the hospital’s website.

The hospital also requires a letter from a mental health provider stating patients are ready for the surgery and fully understand the “procedure and recovery needs, fertility implications of surgery, and risks of surgery.”

Our ruling

A tweet said, “Boston Children’s Hospital is now offering ‘gender-affirming hysterectomies’ for young girls.”

That’s wrong. The Center for Gender Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital does not provide hysterectomies to patients younger than 18. Hysterectomies are a requirement for patients seeking gender-affirming surgery such as phalloplasty or ​​metoidioplasty. 

To qualify for the procedure at Boston Children’s Hospital, patients must also provide a letter from a medical doctor stating they have “persistent, well-documented, gender dysphoria.” 

We rate this claim False.