Seven members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ Gender Surgery Task Force sent an open letter asking how the group developed a February 3 position statement advising surgeons to delay gender-related chest, genital and facial procedures until patients are at least 19. ASPS told The Daily Wire it viewed the letter as based on misunderstandings it is working to clarify.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) issued a position statement dated February 3, 2026 addressing gender-related breast/chest, genital and facial surgery for people under 19, and advising that surgeons delay such procedures until a patient is at least 19.
On February 9, 2026, seven people signing as “Concerned members of the ASPS Gender Surgery Task Force” sent an open letter to the ASPS board seeking details about how the February 3 statement was developed. The letter asks for the identity and roles of the authors, the timing and methodology used, and whether the ASPS board reviewed the task force’s anonymized submissions and “areas of emerging consensus.” It says the task force members were unaware a separate position statement was being developed outside the task force and that the statement was released “without input from the Task Force.”
The open-letter signatories listed in the document are Jens Berli, MD, MBA; Rachel Bluebond-Langner, MD; Scott Leibowitz, MD; Steven Montante, MD; Melissa Poh, MD; Asa Radix, MD, PhD; and Loren Schechter, MD (Co-Chair). The letter describes the task force as having been convened following a panel planned for the society’s 2024 annual meeting (PSTM 2024) that it says was later canceled after concerns expressed by members, and it says the task force first convened in May 2025.
The letter also points to what it describes as conflicting internal and public explanations for how the February 3 statement was drafted, citing public reporting that task force co-chair Dr. Scot Glasberg was involved in drafting and quoting a CNN Health interview in which he was quoted as saying: “This was an iterative process that took time, with no outside pressure.” The letter further cites an email it attributes to ASPS executive vice president Michael Costelloe dated February 2, 2026, describing an “urgent, time-limited process initiated by a federal agency” seeking clarification of medical society positions.
In comments reported by The Daily Wire, Dr. Kurt Miceli, medical director of Do No Harm, criticized the open letter and characterized it as politically motivated. The Daily Wire also reported that ASPS said the letter reflected “a series of misunderstandings” that the organization was working to clarify for members.
ASPS’s February 3 position statement says its view has evolved in light of multiple evidence reviews, including the 2024 Cass Review commissioned by NHS England and an HHS report titled “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices,” which HHS materials say was published in November 2025. The ASPS statement directs members to an evidence summary in an appendix to the HHS report.
The Daily Wire reported that the HHS report criticizes several influential pediatric gender-medicine guidelines for methodological weaknesses and conflicts of interest, and the ASPS statement cites the Cass Review and the HHS report in discussing uncertainties in the evidence base and ethical considerations.
WPATH did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment, according to the outlet.
