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Vice President Kamala Harris was taken to task over the administration’s support for “gender-affirming care” for minors in a newly launched ad campaign saying that 236 underage girls in four swing states have had their breasts removed on the taxpayer dime.
The ads running in Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin cite Medicaid data listing the number of girls under 18 receiving mastectomies and hysterectomies in each state, as well as the number receiving hysterectomies.
“Sound weird? Disgusting? It is. And you’re paying for it,” the narrator says in the 30-second ads. “Kamala Harris supports these taxpayer-funded sex-change operations. A vote for Harris: a vote for medical experiments on kids.”
The six-figure digital and broadcast campaign released Monday by the conservative advocacy group CatholicVote highlights a potential weakness for the Harris campaign, given polls showing that a majority of Americans oppose gender-transition drugs and surgeries for minors.
“Most people have no idea of the size, scope and money involved in the trans agenda being pushed on our kids,” CatholicVote President Brian Burch said. “Talk about weird, physically healthy boys and girls are having their genitals and sexual organs destroyed, and Kamala Harris and her Democratic allies in the Senate not only think that’s acceptable, but are forcing taxpayers to pay for it.”
The ads report that 97 girls under 18 had their breasts removed in Pennsylvania; 86 in Wisconsin; 18 in Nevada, and 35 in Michigan. The number of hysterectomies cited were 14 in Pennsylvania; 12 in Wisconsin; three in Nevada, and seven in Michigan.
Other Medicaid-covered procedures performed on minors include nipple reconstructions; testicle castrations; removals of vaginal wall; “penis amputations”; skin grafts and nerve creations; vocal-cord procedures; breast implants, and urethra reconstructions, according to CatholicVote.
The procedures were performed on minor patients undergoing gender transitions from 2019-23, CatholicVote told The Washington Times.
All four states explicitly cover “transgender-related health care” under their Medicaid policies, according to the Movement Advancement Project.
“Unlike fracking, defunding the police, or securing the border, Kamala has not yet flip-flopped on forcing Americans to pay for medical experiments on children,” Mr. Burch said.
In Pennsylvania, 97 underage girls had their breasts removed, 14 underage girls underwent hysterectomies, and countless young boys had genital amputations using YOUR money.
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) September 16, 2024
Kamala Harris supports these taxpayer-funded sex change operations. pic.twitter.com/etOHHKEpeX
The Biden-Harris administration has been steadfast in defending and promoting “gender-affirming care” for adults and youth, including challenging red-state bans on puberty blockers, sex-change hormones, and gender-change surgeries for children.
Last year, the Justice Department sued Tennessee to overturn its law prohibiting gender-transition drugs and surgeries for those under 18, saying the law “discriminates against transgender youth.”
The department also intervened in 2022 in favor of a lawsuit challenging Alabama’s ban on gender-transition surgeries and drugs for anyone under the age of 19.
A 2022 statement entitled “Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration Advances Visibility and Equality for Trans Americans” emphasized that “providing gender-affirming care is neither child maltreatment nor malpractice.”
A Health and Human Services Department explainer lists “gender-affirming surgeries” as an option “used in adulthood or case-by-case in adolescence,” while Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine pushed successfully to remove age-limit guidelines used by the World Professional Association of Transgender Health, as shown in court documents.
The White House sought to pivot on the issue in July, telling The 19th news site that “we believe these surgeries should be limited to adults,” but then clarifying that “families should have the freedom” to decide for themselves after pushback from LGBTQ groups.
“We continue to fight state and national bans on gender-affirming care, which represents a continuum of care, and respect the role of parents, families, and doctors — not politicians — in these decisions,” said Neera Tanden, White House Domestic Policy Council director, in a July 8 email obtained by The Advocate. “Gender-affirming surgeries are typically reserved for adults, and we believe they should be.”
She added: “Above all, families should have the freedom to make the medical decisions that they and their doctors determine are best for them — which is why we oppose attempts to limit health care for transgender individuals in the courts or through legislation.”
The Washington Times has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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