Gender Affirming Care

Gender Affirming Care

Boston Children’s Hospital has faced intense backlash after promoting what it called “gender-affirming hysterectomies” for young girls who identify as transgender.

The since-removed video in question featured Dr. Frances Grimstad, who works for the hospital’s division of gynecology. In it, she explained the kinds of hysterectomies girls could undergo.

“A gender-affirming hysterectomy is very similar to most hysterectomies that occur,” the doctor said in the video clip unearthed by the popular Libs of TikTok account. “A hysterectomy itself is the removal of the uterus, the cervix — which is the opening of the uterus — and the fallopian tubes, which are attached to the sides of the uterus.”

While it appears Boston Children's Hospital has removed Grimstad’s biographical landing page from its website, her Twitter bio describes her as a “trans reproductive health advocate.”

Grimstad went on to explain “some gender-affirming hysterectomies will also include the removal of the ovaries, but that’s technically a separate procedure called a bilateral oophorectomy, and not every gender-affirming hysterectomy includes that,” adding, “People who are getting gender forming hysterectomies do not have to have their ovaries removed.”

The video featuring Grimstad was in a series about transgender surgeries for young males and females. The series of videos, published to YouTube, began about a year ago.

One of the other videos in the series — “When does a child know they’re transgender?” — featured Dr. Jeremi Carswell, director of the Gender Multispecialty Service at Boston Children's Hospital. She argued a child “will often know that they’re transgender from the moment that they have any ability to express themselves, and parents will often tell us this.”

She then described a number of activities and behaviors that might be exhibited for by any child for any number of reasons as evidence of transgenderism.

“We have parents who tell us that their kids, they knew from the minute they were born practically,” Carswell said. “And actions like refusing to get a haircut or standing to urinate or trying to stand to urinate, refusing to stand to urinate, trying on siblings’ clothing, playing with the ‘opposite gender’ toys — things like that.”

In yet another video, Dr. Kerry McGregor, a psychologist and associate director of the Gender Multispecialty Service at Boston Children's Hospital, claimed — without explanation — that “a good portion of children do know as early as from the womb” that they are transgender.

CBN’s Faithwire reached out to Boston Children's Hospital but has not yet received a response.

This spring, the hospital posted a statement on its website lauding itself for its support of “gender-diverse kids and teens.”

“As the first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program in the United States, our facility has long provided gender-affirming care,” the statement read. “That care can come in several different forms: It can mean supporting kids who are exploring their gender identity, transitioning socially (for example, changing their pronouns, using an affirmed name, or modifying their clothing), or pursuing medical care.”