Megyn Kelly spoke with the talk show host and comedian Bill Maher on Friday’s hot political topics, including fascism and gender-affirming care for transgender children, their exchanges about the latter circulating in a video on X, previously Twitter.

Pivoting from a discussion of global fascism and what the second potential Donald Trump The presidency could look like, Kelly, an ex Fox News host, he said further HBOhis Real Time with Bill Maher that “almost as important, perhaps as important, is what we are doing to our children with this trans madness. That’s pretty much my only problem. We cut off the healthy body parts of young children – 100% we do. .” Audience members can then be heard reacting to Kelly’s comment.

Maher replied: “We certainly do. That’s it. I don’t know what it’s about.”

A video segment The exchange between Kelly and Maher, shared by Eric Abbenante, a filmmaker and comedian, has received more than 3.8 million views on X since Saturday afternoon.

Gender-affirming care has become a controversial political topic, with over half of the states in the country passing laws and policies that limit access for young people.

Republicans have long argued that banning gender-affirming care would protect children from making harmful lifelong decisions before they are able to decide whether they want to fully transition. Meanwhile, those in favor of gender-affirming care say that preventing access to these services can cause long-term suffering and mental health problems for children and adolescents who cannot live in a body that feels like their own.

A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published earlier this month found that in 2023, 3.3% of US high school students identified as transgender and 2.2% identified as queer.

A study by researchers at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, published in June, found that sex-affirmation surgeries on minors — referring to the topic Kelly addressed — are rare.

Using data from 2019, the study reported no gender-affirming surgery for transgender youth ages 12 and under. Among adolescents aged 15 to 17, the rate was 2.1 per 100,000 and 5.3 per 100,000 for adults aged 18 and older.

Most gender-affirming care for young people is non-surgical and may include counseling, hormone therapy, and puberty blockers. According to the Mayo Clinic, puberty blockers “do not cause permanent physical changes. Instead, they put puberty on hold,” noting that when a person stops taking blockers, “puberty starts all over again.”

“Kids who are being bullied or who have been sexually assaulted or who are going through normal puberty and feel uncomfortable in their bodies will tell their parents, ‘I’m not sure, maybe I’m gender confused.’ They’re going to send it to a psychiatrist or a psychologist that our organizations, the American Psychiatric Association and everybody else who runs their licenses, you have to affirm, affirm is the only standard,” Kelly said Friday.

The former Fox News host added that “the child is put on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones that sterilize him.”

Cross-sex hormones, which differ from puberty blockers, are usually testosterone and estrogen and can be used to change the body.

Newsweek reached out to the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for comment via email on Saturday.

According to the APA website, there are several areas of affirmation, defining treatment options for medical affirmation as “pubertal suppression for adolescents with gender dysphoria and gender-affirming hormones such as estrogen and testosterone for older adolescents and adults. The medical claim is not recommended. for prepubertal children Some adults (and rarely teenagers) may suffer from different aspects of surgical affirmation”.

Later in the discussion, Maher asked Kelly if she agrees and understands that there are people who are transgender, to which Kelly clarified, “I have a few (transgender people) in my family. I don’t have anything against people who actually have gender dysphoria and I’m honestly struggling with that… that’s a different issue, it’s about children and then about women’s spaces in sports.”

Kelly opened up on both her podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show, and on social media, that transgender women competing in women’s leagues create an unfair advantage against biological girls and women and should not be allowed to

Supporters to allow transgender athletes to compete based on their gender identity argue that sport should be inclusive and accessible to all, regardless of gender identity, stressing the importance of equality and non-discrimination, noting that transgender athletes often face significant barriers in sport , including societal stigma and discrimination.