FIRST ON FOX: A new report from a conservative think tank is shedding light on the size of the "booming" transgender surgery industry today that has swelled into the billions of dollars and continues to grow and raises a variety of concerns.
The new report American Principles Project (APP) shows that the transgender "medicine" industry has exploded into a massive system where total revenues for transgender drugs and surgeries in 2023 were estimated to surpass $4.4 billion. That number, according to the study, could exceed $7.8 billion by 2030.
"My organization, American Principles Project, has been concerned about the entire transgender agenda as it pertains to children for quite some time now,"APP President Terry Schilling told Fox News Digital.
"We know that there are obvious physical and psychological consequences to it, but we wanted to figure out why the industry was growing so much, why such a small population was getting so much attention and media, you know, favorable attention in our cultural arena, and we figured out very quickly that there's a lot of money here."
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The report outlines how lifelong use of cross-sex hormones could cost up to $300,000 with surgical transitions costing $150,000. Additionally, the potentially damaging side effects from transition surgery like cancer, nerve damage, chronic pain, sexual dysfunction and mental health issues lead to more medical expenses.
The report explains that transgender surgery providers, including Cedars Sinai, the Regents of the University of Michigan, the Mount Sinai Health System and several others, are believed to have brought in over $100 million in revenue in 2022 from transgender surgeries, and pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and AbbVie brought in $74 million and $51 million, respectively.
"There's so many physical bad things that happen to you and side effects that we've known about for a few years, but it didn't really explain why people were still pushing them towards this," Schilling told Fox News Digital.
"I like to think that most human beings are normally good, and they don't want to cause harm to people. So what would push people into these procedures and what would push people into encouraging other people to go through these painful procedures that cause so much dysfunction and harm to them? And it makes a lot more sense when you realize that there are billions and billions of dollars at stake."
The report states that 1.6 million Americans now identify as transgender, including 300,000 individuals between 13 and 17 years old.
"Given the lucrative nature of this industry, it seems likely medical practitioners will continue to recommend and administer these drugs and procedures for as long as they feel safe from liability," APP said in a press release.
"However, many detransitioners are beginning to emerge, facing regret as well as significant health issues resulting from their transition. Their public stories—as well as potential lawsuits— may eventually lead to a reckoning for the industry, resulting in transgender medicine going the way of the lobotomy."
Schilling told Fox News Digital that the estimates in the report are likely to be conservative and that pro-gender transition activists have boasted that the industry could surpass $200 billion per year, larger than the film industry.
"We wanted America and the world really to know, just how much, money was being put into this industry," Schilling told Fox News Digital.
"It is vitally important that the American people see the reality of what is happening: the damage being done by these practices as well as the financial incentives which keep the industry going despite the consequences," Schilling said in a press release.
"And policymakers must recognize that we cannot afford to stand idle while the victims of this industry pile up. Although it is possible that growing liability will one day put an end to this malpractice, we should not wait for that to happen. Government action is necessary, and it cannot come a moment too soon."
Fox News reached out to Pfizer, Abbvie, Cedars Sinai, the Regents of the University of Michigan and the Mount Sinai Health System for comment.
