Trump’s Claim That Schools Secretly Send Children for Gender Surgery Is Unfounded

He repeated variations of the story at rallies in Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio on October 12. The claim suggests schools are covertly arranging gender-affirming operations for minors.

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Federal and state regulations require written parental permission and, in many jurisdictions, a licensed health-care provider’s order before a minor can undergo any elective surgery. Dr. Laura Taylor, medical director of the Gender-Affirming Care Program at the University of Southern California, explained that adolescents seeking hormones or surgery must first undergo a psychosocial assessment by an interdisciplinary team and provide informed consent together with their families. The limited data show that surgery for minors is extremely rare, typically limited to chest procedures for youths aged 15-17, and is prohibited for minors in several states.

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Anna Arkin, spokesperson for Minnesota’s education department, called Trump’s allegation “unequivocally false.” Lindsey Dawson, director of the LGBTQ Health Policy Program at KFF, noted that the claim “is patently false” and that transgender individuals constitute a small share of the population, with most not pursuing medical transition. Landon Hughes, an instructor at Harvard Medical School, confirmed that “there are no documented cases of schools taking children to hospitals for gender-affirming surgery.”

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An unsigned White House email listed instances where schools facilitated social transitions—changing names or pronouns—without parental knowledge. In Colorado, a lawsuit described a school counselor’s discussion of possible hormone treatment, but the parents’ refusal prevented any medical intervention, illustrating that no surgery occurred without consent.

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“There are no documented cases of schools taking children to hospitals for gender-affirming surgery,” — Landon Hughes, an instructor at Harvard Medical School

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