Comment National Children’s Hospital has been inundated with threatening emails and phone calls after a right-wing Twitter account posted a recording falsely suggesting the hospital performs hysterectomies transgender children, a hospital spokesman said. The torrent of harassment was accompanied by social media posts suggesting that Children’s should be bombed and its doctors put on the chopping block; The recording was made by TikTok founder Libs Chaya Raichik, has two answering machines at the prestigious DC medical facility stating — in response to Raichik’s questions — that a 16-year-old transgender boy could undergo a hysterectomy at the hospital’s gender development clinic. Children’s did not dispute the authenticity of the recording, but said employees provided inaccurate information. “None of the people who were secretly recorded by this activist group are providing care to our patients,” hospital spokeswoman Ariana Ahmadi Perez said. “We do not and have never performed gender-affirming hysterectomies for people under the age of 18.” Such statements did not quell the furor unleashed Thursday by Raichik’s post. Right-wing media outlets, including Fox News and the Daily Caller, ran stories based on the incorrect information provided in the phone conversations. A captioned video of the recording had been viewed more than 800,000 times on Twitter by Friday afternoon. In response to a request for comment for this story, Raichik agreed to an interview on the condition that she be allowed to record it. This story will be updated to include her comments once that interview takes place. The scrutiny of Children’s comes just weeks after the Libs of TikTok similarly targeted Boston Children’s Hospital for its care of transgender people. In this case, the account highlighted a video produced by the hospital discussing “gender-affirming hysterectomies.” The Libs of TikTok claimed the surgery was being performed on “young girls,” although Boston Children’s officials said the procedure is not available to people under 18. Despite its name, the Boston hospital, like Children’s National in DC, treats patients at a young age. Officials at Boston Children’s also said their providers were the target of threats and harassment after TikTok libs drew attention to their programs. The uproar over transgender care at children’s hospitals comes as lawmakers in several states seek to curtail LGBTQ rights in classrooms and sports arenas. From Florida to Kentucky, conservatives are seeking to limit the discussion of gender in schools and the participation of transgender athletes in youth sports, with many on the right arguing that gay and transgender educators are seeking to “groom” and sexually abuse children. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott told the state Department of Family Protection and Services to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming care to their transgender children. This provision is challenged in the courts. A hysterectomy — the removal of the uterus, cervix and fallopian tubes, sometimes accompanied by removal of the ovaries — can be performed in addition to a mastectomy (often cited as the top surgery by trans doctors and support groups) for people who are transitioning. But the procedure is almost never offered to children, experts said, and current standards of care published by the Global Professional Association for Transgender Health state that the procedure should not be performed on minors. Dr. Loren Schechter, director of gender confirmation surgery at Rush University in Chicago and a member of the association’s executive committee, said he could recall only one gender confirmation hysterectomy on a minor in 23 years of practice. In that case, he said, the patient was a 17-year-old who had already been in treatment for years and had been repeatedly advised by doctors to delay surgery. “These are considered decisions, and they are complex decisions,” Schechter said. “The thought that people are being pushed or rushed into surgery is just ridiculous.” But National Children’s officials admit that some information released by the hospital has added to public confusion. Before Thursday, the hospital’s website incorrectly stated that gender-affirming hysterectomy was available to patients “between the ages of 0-21,” an error that has been corrected, Perez said. And in Raichik’s recording, two hospital employees who answer the phones make it clear that a minor patient could undergo a gender-affirming hysterectomy. “It depends. Every section is different. Some sections cut off at 18,” says a caller in response to Raichik’s question about whether a minor would be eligible for the surgery. “How old is your patient?” “Sixteen,” says Raichik. “Okay,” the operator replies. “Good. So it’s clear.” After confirming with a second person over the phone that a 16-year-old would be eligible for a gender-affirming hysterectomy, Raichik asks if it’s “a common procedure you do for that age.” “Yes, we have all different age groups coming in for this,” the hospital worker replies. “For the hysterectomy?” Raichik asks. “Yes, ma’am,” the clerk says, later adding that she’s “seen younger children, younger than your child’s age” undergo surgery. On Thursday night, the hospital’s website went down temporarily. Officials said they are investigating what went wrong and that it is not yet clear if the outage is related to the gender-care craze. Raichik — a former real estate salesman who operates under various online aliases — has amassed 1.3 million followers with posts that furiously inflame the country’s culture wars, with a particular focus on LGBTQ issues. Her previous targets have included schools and Pride events, said Ari Drennen, LGBTQ program director for Media Matters of America. The new focus on children’s hospitals is particularly troubling, Drennen said, bringing with it the potential for violence and harassment directed at families seeking medical care. “I think most people should be able to agree that health care decisions are not best made by rabid Internet mobs,” Drennen said. clarification An earlier version of this story incorrectly indicated that Raichik had not responded to a request for comment. The Post was not aware that he had responded via a message on Twitter before the story was published. Taylor Lorenz contributed to this report.
