Libs of TikTok targets Children’s National Hospital
Children’s National Hospital has become the target of threatening phone calls, email messages and social media postings after a widely read far-right Twitter account known as Libs of TikTok posted an incorrect report claiming the hospital routinely performs hysterectomies on transgender patients under the age of 18.
Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik included in her Aug. 25 posting audio recordings of two Children’s National Hospital telephone operators who the hospital says incorrectly stated that a trans boy as young as 16 would be eligible for a hysterectomy. “We do not and have never provided gender-affirming surgery for anyone under the age of 18,” according to an email statement the hospital’s media office sent to the Washington Blade. “In fact, in D.C.
you cannot perform a hysterectomy in a minor without a court order,” the statement says. “We do not provide hormone therapy to children before puberty begins,” the statement continues. “Care is individualized for each patent and always involves families making decisions in coordination with a team of highly trained pediatric specialists,” it says. “None of the people who were secretly recorded by this activist group deliver care to our patients,” says the statement. “The information in the recording is not accurate.
To reiterate, we do not and have never performed gender affirming hysterectomies on minors,” it says. The statement added, “Since the spreading of misinformation on Twitter, we have been the target of a large volume of hostile phone calls, social media messages and emails.” The Washington Post has reported that the harassment encountered by the hospital has included social media posts suggesting that it be bombed, and its doctors placed in a
