WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the federal government moves to restore biological reality and strengthen protections for children from chemical and surgical mutilation, new reporting from Independent Women’s Features (IW Features) exposes how one teenage girl was fast-tracked into irreversible medical interventions at a children’s hospital.
Since returning to office nearly a year ago, President Donald J. Trump, alongside U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, has prioritized safeguarding children from harmful medical practices. In December, HHS announced numerous proposed regulatory actions that would prohibit hospitals from performing sex-rejecting procedures on minors as a condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid.
On Monday, IW Features, the grassroots storytelling and original journalism arm of Independent Women, exclusively published the story of Sabrina Anderson*, a young woman who was pushed down a path of irreversible harm while she was a vulnerable teenager. *A pseudonym has been used to protect Anderson’s identity.
After going through puberty at just nine years old, Anderson believed identifying as a boy would be a way to escape her problems. She faced academic stress, her parents’ divorce, and a sexual assault — all of which added to her emotional load. It was when the debate regarding trans-identifying males in women’s bathrooms became a mainstream news topic that Anderson first heard about transgenderism.
“I thought, ‘Well, I’m struggling a lot with womanhood, and maybe I could do this,’” Anderson recalled to IW Features. “Maybe being a guy would just be easier for me in the long term.”
At 14, Anderson disclosed feelings of gender dysphoria to her therapist, who referred her to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. There, she says, the process moved rapidly.
The provider “handed me this packet… you read through it, and you discuss the side effects [of testosterone], and if you’re OK with it, you sign,” she told IW Features.
Without more consideration surrounding Anderson’s mental health history or trauma, she was, all within the same appointment, given a prescription for testosterone and went through her first injection. Following years of binding her breasts, Anderson underwent a double mastectomy.
These medical interventions have left her with severe health complications, including subclinical hypothyroidism, high cholesterol, and a high red blood cell count.
Anderson’s warning to young women struggling with mental health like she did is to take it seriously: “Make sure you really vet your therapist, and if you’re not getting — or if you don’t feel like you’re getting — your issues addressed fully, try another one.”
About Anderson’s story, Neeraja Deshpande, Independent Women policy analyst and IW Features senior contributor, said: “So many children who were transitioned really needed a therapist who would work them through their problems—rather than refer them to doctors who would give cross-sex hormones and perform irreversible surgeries.”
Anderson’s story is part of IW Features’ ongoing “Identity Crisis: Real Stories About Escaping Gender Ideology” series, which was established in 2022, has become a national platform for detransitioners and their loved ones. With raw honesty, the series has revealed the graphic realities of “transition” — from double mastectomies gone wrong, to clitoral growth, trapped milk ducts, and hairy bodies.
Read Sabrina Anderson’s story here: Identity Crisis: This Woman Is Abandoning Gender Ideology for Real Mental Health Care
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