Vanderbilt will pause gender transition surgeries for minors

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) will cease performing gender transition surgeries for minors in response to a letter from Tennessee lawmakers demanding it do so.

The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh, who reporting the lawmakers credited as prompting their demand, on Friday announced the reply from the VUMC in which the hospital acquiesced.

"HUGE NEWS: following our report, Vanderbilt has agreed to pause all gender transition surgeries on minors. The fight is far from over but this will save children from mutilation and abuse. An incredibly important victory. Praise God." Walsh tweeted.

He also included a copy of the letter in a subsequent post.

"You have asked VUMC to permanently halt gender affirmation surgeries being performed on minor children," a letter from VUMC Deputy CEO and Chief Health System Officer C. Wright Pinson and addressed to state Rep. Jason Zachary, R, reads.

 "On September 6, 2022, WPATH (World Professional Association of Transgender Health) published a new version of its recommendations to health care professionals for treatment of transgender persons, known as SOC-8," Pinson continued. "In light of these new recommendations, and as part of completing our internal clinical review of SOC-8 guidance in patients under 18, we will be seeking advice from local and national clinic experts."

"We are pausing gender affirmation surgeries on patients under 18 while we complete this review, which may take several months," it concluded. The pause is not a permanent halt to the surgeries and that decision remains unmade.