Americans across political spectrum strongly oppose transgender surgery for minors, poll finds

Democrats and Republicans alike are opposed to allowing transgender surgeries on minors, according to a poll released Monday that measured a voter sentiment that played a role in this month’s election outcome.

The Napolitan News Service poll found that 72% of Americans think it should be illegal for doctors to perform gender-affirming care surgeries on minors. 

Of those 72% of Americans who don't support it, 86% were Republicans and 58% were Democrats. 

The poll also says that 68% of Americans don't believe that transgender athletes should be competing in women's sports. 

You can see the poll here:

As of late, politicians on both the left and the right have been speaking out regarding transgender athletes competing in biological women's sports. 

“The Democrats have to stop pandering to the far left,” Rep. Thomas Suozzi, D-N.Y., told The New York Times earlier this month. “I don’t want to discriminate against anybody, but I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports. Democrats aren’t saying that, and they should be." Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton agreed with Suozzi's sentiment that his party was too worried about offending people that they were not being honest.

Wyoming GOP Rep. Harriet Hageman said that she didn't believe there was such a thing as "transgender," rather someone who struggles with mental illness.

"I think what we're talking about is some people who have a mental illness and we have other people who society are pushing towards a certain in a certain direction," she said during an interview with the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "And I think we need to bring these conversations back to common sense. Men and women are different."

When it comes to minors undergoing transgender surgeries, some in the medical field have been speaking out about the harms it does to children, including nurse practitioner Michelle Havrilla. Havrilla said she put together a database that put together data between 2019 to 2023 regarding the number of kids that have undergone sex change operations. 

"What we found as we analyze the data is that approximately 14,000 children have undergone some type of sex change treatment within that period of time," she said. "So whether it would be a surgery, a body modification surgery or they received hormone blockers or puberty blockers, they were undergoing some type of treatment that would we would consider a sex change treatment," Harvilla said on an AMAC special. 

She said that healthcare needs to go back to the traditional "do no harm" medical culture that has guided physicians since the time of ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, and should not conduct these procedures that will leave lasting negative impacts on children. 

"We really want to see healthcare, especially nursing, restored to what it should be...and that's being the best provider that you can be in taking care of patients on an individual basis," Harvilla said.