A Teen Vogue article warns that Trump’s executive order against chemical and surgical gender transition for minors puts them at risk of death.
On January 28, 2025, President Trump signed the “Protecting Children From Chemical And Surgical Mutilation” order, banning the chemical and surgical mutilation of individuals under 19 years of age.
The EO says the government will “not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition.’” It also directs the government to “enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.”
Citing a debunked study, the writer says Trump’s order gravely endangers children with gender dysphoria by putting them at risk of self harm.
The argument stems from a 2024 Trevor Project study of 61,000 trans individuals between 2018 and 2022, when 48 anti-transgender laws were enacted across 19 states. It found that “anti-transgender laws significantly increased incidents of past-year suicide attempts among transgender and nonbinary youth by as much as 72%.”
“I don’t want to mince words here: stripping trans youth of their gender affirming care is a death sentence,” Angelica Christina Torres, a Stonewall Inn board member, said in an interview published on Teen Vogue.
She argued that preventing transgender kids from undergoing irreversible medical interventions exposes them to bullying, thus pushing them towards depression and self harm.
“These Executive Orders create an even larger target on their backs for cisgender students to continue attacking and harming transgender youth, further pushing them towards self harm, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and in some cases, suicide,” Torres said. “Gender affirming care is often the only shred of hope and joy that our vulnerable youth can hold onto.”
“Gender-affirming care is lifesaving, and I can personally speak to that experience,” said the “proud alumni of the nation’s first fully accredited LGBTQIA+ high school, The Harvey Milk High School.”
However, conflicting studies have found that the risk of self-harm for transgender students increased two years after they underwent “chemical and surgical” sex-change operations.
In particular, a more recent and extensive study of 107,583 patients published by The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that individuals who received chemical and medical interventions for sex change exhibited “significantly higher” rates of depression, anxiety, substance-use disorders, and suicide two years after the operation.
“Mental health outcomes included depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, substance use disorder, and body dysmorphic disorder, assessed over two years post-surgery using clinician-verified ICD-10 codes.”
Depression rates among male subjects who medically or chemically changed their sex more than doubled (25%) compared to those who did not transition (11.5%). Anxiety rates among the same group of males also more than quadrupled (12.8%) compared to those who remained intact (2.6%).
Similarly, women who chemically/surgically transitioned reported higher rates of depression (22.9%) compared to those who did not undergo medical interventions (14.6%). These negative outcomes were reported two years after the subjects had medically transitioned, thus suggesting long-term effects or lifetime regret for mutilating their bodies.
The study recommended “ongoing, gender-sensitive mental health support for transgender individuals’ post-surgery.” Undoubtedly, children suffering from gender dysphoria could benefit from the same mental health support and care without the need for medical mutilation to reduce the risk of suicide.
Meanwhile, Trump’s executive order warned that children who transitioned must face the “horrifying tragedy” of being unable to have their own children. They also face a lifetime of health complications and skyrocketing medical bills to address various health problems introduced by the highly invasive procedures.
Additionally, gender transition also comes with unexpected sobering realities for which the children are likely unprepared, thus pushing them towards self harm.
