Good Question: How many gender-affirming surgeries have taken place in Kentucky?

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – For today’s Good Question, Edward asks, “Concerning the Kentucky law on transgender minors that recently went into effect prohibiting, among other things, gender-affirming surgery, are there any statistics available on how many of these surgeries actually took place in Kentucky?”

No, there aren’t any databases or statistics we could find that show a definitive list of those surgeries on minors.

There was an uproar from Republican lawmakers recently when UK’s Transform clinic confirmed they had “in recent years performed a small number of non-genital gender reassignment surgeries on minors.” While also adding that the clinic does not perform genital reassignment surgery on minors.

They said with the passage of SB 150, they no longer provide any services that support a gender transition in minors.

Several hospitals in Louisville released statements saying they do not perform those surgeries on minors.

A study from JAMA Network Open shows that, nationally, gender-affirming surgeries nearly tripled in the U.S. from 2016 to 2020. More than half were breast and chest procedures, and 35% were genital reconstructions.

That estimate is based on about 48,000 patients nationwide.

Only 8% of the patients in the study were between the ages of 12 and 18.

We don’t know if any of those patients were from Kentucky.

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