On February 26, Natia Beridze, a journalist of the pro-government TV channel PosTV, released a video in which Priest Aleksandre Bolkvadze claims that certain groups in the Netherlands make 10-year-old children undergo gender-affirming surgery without the permission of their parents.
The claim that 10-year-olds in the Netherlands can undergo gender-affirming surgery without parental consent is false. In fact, gender reassignment surgery is allowed in the Netherlands from the age of 18.
The cleric claims that there are groups in the Netherlands who take 10-year-old children out of schools and perform sex-change operations without the permission of their parents or teachers. In reality, the claim is false, as gender-affirming surgery is not performed on 10-year-olds in the Netherlands.
In the Netherlands, doctors are guided by a protocol (Dutch Protocol) that determines the age when it is appropriate for patients to start hormone therapy, as well as perform mastectomy (breast removal surgery) and gender-affirming surgery.
According to the protocol, mastectomy can be performed from the age of 16, and genital surgery can be performed from the age of 18. The age for starting hormonal therapy (Puberty Blockers) is defined as the 2nd stage of the Tanner scale in the graph (according to the Tanner scale, the 2nd stage in boys starts from the age of 11.5 years, and in girls from the age of 10.9 years). According to the same document, teenagers start taking Cross-sex hormones from the age of 15, after taking Puberty Blockers for at least 2 years, or from the age of 16, after taking hormones for at least 6 months.
The claim that gender-affirming surgery can be performed in the Netherlands from the age of 18 is confirmed by the review of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights regarding access to surgery in European countries. Also, in 2023, the fact-checking organization Politifact prepared an article on the issue, according to which, although European countries, unlike the US, do not prohibit gender confirmation procedures by law, there are medical protocols that determine age and other details. Also, most adolescents do not consider surgery until the age of 18, so even in countries where the procedure is legal, surgery on minors is performed very rarely.
Dutch doctors played a pioneering role in developing a method of medical treatment for adolescents diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Medical gender confirmation treatment has been available to transgender adults over the age of 18 in the country since 1972.
“Myth Detector” has verified a number of false claims about gender-affirming surgery in children in the past as well. Read more:
- DISINFORMATION AS IF CHILDREN IN THE US AND CANADA CAN UNDERGO GENDER-AFFIRMING SURGERY WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT
- DISINFORMATION BY “IMEDI TV” AND “ALT-INFO,” AS IF IN CALIFORNIA GENDER AFFIRMING SURGERY ON CHILDREN CAN BE PERFORMED WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT
- DISINFORMATION BY PRO-KREMLIN ALT-INFO AS IF 2-YEAR-OLDS CAN UNDERGO SEX REASSIGNMENT SURGERY IN BOSTON
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