Children's Hospital in D.C. Under Attack Over Gender-Affirming Care

A children's hospital in Washington, D.C., has become the most recent victim of an online movement to vilify medical institutions that provide gender-affirming care to trans youth.

Children's National Hospital has been under fire from far-right extremists after the far-right Twitter account Libs of TikTok posted an audio recording that features a staff member appearing to say that the hospital provides hysterectomies to minors, according to the Associated Press.

Since the Libs of TikTok posted the recording, the hospital has faced "a large volume of hostile and threatening phone calls and emails," a hospital spokesperson told the news wire.

The exposed host of the account, real estate broker and transphobe Chaya Raichik, posed as a mother seeking care for her 16-year-old transgender son.

After asking her son's age, a supposed staff member informs Raichik her son is "in the clear" for a hysterectomy. Another worker later tells her that the hospital has performed hysterectomies on children "younger than your child's age."

Raichik posted the call, which has since received more than one million views, sparking misinformed stories on Fox News and the Daily Mail.

A spokesperson for Children's National reiterated to the AP that, in accordance with D.C. law, their organization does not perform hysterectomies on minors.

"None of the people who were secretly recorded by this activist group deliver care to our patients. The information in the recording is not accurate," they said. "We do not perform gender-affirming hysterectomies for anyone under the age of 18."

This is not the first time the Libs of TikTok account has instigated an attack on children's hospitals. Raichik previously targeted Boston Children's Hospital for providing gender-affirming surgery, a service they do not offer for patients under the age of 18.

Because of Raichik's misinformation, caregivers at the hospital received numerous death threats until all images of doctors and staff had to be removed from the institution's website. Raichik retweeted several posts and videos slandering the hospital with such claims as, "Boston Children's Hospital supports castrating kids."

Libs of TikTok's platform has been built on targeting LGBTQ+ individuals, labeling them as "groomers" who, in the case of transgender people, support "mutilating children."

The Advocate has reached out to Children's National Hospital for comment.