The rise and rise of “trans” surgeries in New Zealand

The below chart, which is available on the Ministry of Health website, is worded very carefully as showing the “number of referrals for assessment”, but when compared with the actual number of performed surgeries, it gives an accurate picture of the exponential rise in the numbers of mutilating surgery, especially for girls and women.

We all know what happened in the 4th quarter of 2021 - Sex Self-ID was adopted into law, which might explain the sudden increase in demand for referral for surgery, especially for females.

But what happened in the 4th quarter of 2018? Labour got elected in 2017. Prior to that election, only a few referrals were done each year via the high-cost-health fund. There were only about four surgical procedures annually and the waiting list was endless. It was estimated to take 30 years to get through. Also, there was only one single surgeon who had the necessary skills in the country - and he had already retired in 2014. So most people eligible took their public funding and headed overseas. Then Labour took charge and removed the tight limits put on the funding. The Labour government promised to fund an increased number of procedures each year. Nowadays, there are five surgeons in New Zealand (two in Wellington, one in Auckland, one in Palmerston North, and one in Christchurch) who perform these highly complex, dangerous, and completely unnecessary “trans” surgeries:

  • feminising breast augmentation

  • masculinising chest reconstruction (double mastectomy)

  • hysterectomy (removal of the uterus)

  • salpingo-oophorectomy (removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes)

  • orchidectomy (removal of testicles)

  • facial feminisation (a plethora of procedures, basically breaking your face and making it into a new one)

  • laryngeal shave (reducing the size of the Adam’s apple).

Through its “Gender Affirming (Genital) Surgery Service”, the government is topping up the already “High Cost Treatment Pool” especially for “gender affirming genital surgeries” to enable the “delivery of up to 14 surgeries per year”.