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On Aug. 11, the popular right-wing social media account Libs of TikTok tweeted a video from a The Children's Hospital video that features a doctor discussing the removal of female sexual organs as part of sexual-reassignment surgery. The tweet says the hospital offered the irreversible surgery of "gender-affirming hysterectomies" to very young girls.
The post drew outrage from prominent figures in the Republican Party as well as hundreds of comments and angry replies. Dozens of popular ring-wing websites have published stories about the video.
However, PolitiFact said the clip strips away context and is purposefully misleading to create a false narrative.
The video never says the surgery is available for children. The hospital's website also doesn't make such a claim. It states the opposite on its website.
To qualify for a gender-reaffirming hysterectomy a patient must be 18 and have a "persistent, well-documented, gender dysphoria," the website says. "All genital surgeries are only performed on patients age 18 and older." (emphasis theirs)
The hospital which ranks among the best in the world says that surgery would be the final step in a very long process that includes therapy and many discussions with doctors about potential alternatives. And a step that will only take place once the patient has reached adulthood and can make that decision for themselves.
"Surgery is never the first step in a gender transition," reads the hospital's website. "It is something that happens after you have already explored social and medical transition options."
The hospital does provide puberty blocker treatments and hormone therapy to children with gender dysphoria, but those treatments are reversible, the hospital's website says.
The virality of the Libs of TikTok tweet bred more, and doctors at the hospital have been doxxed and received death threats and threats of harm on social media, several people have noted.
Several doctors from across the country have started a push to have Chaya Raichik, the person behind Libs of TikTok accounts, removed from social media platforms.
The Children's Hospital has not commented on the social media attacks.
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