Brian Burch, president, CatholicVote, left, Christopher Gheysens, CEO of Wawa, Inc., and chairman, CHOP Board of Trustees, center, and The Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, president, Villanova University | Provided Photo / LinkedIn / Villanova University
Brian Burch, president, CatholicVote, left, Christopher Gheysens, CEO of Wawa, Inc., and chairman, CHOP Board of Trustees, center, and The Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, president, Villanova University | Provided Photo / LinkedIn / Villanova University
The president of CatholicVote said that the chair of a Philadelphia hospital that performs "irreversible sex change operations" on children also sitting on the board of Catholic Villanova University is "hypocrisy" that "cannot go unchecked."
“It’s an outrage that the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is experimenting on children with irreversible sex change operations,” Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, told Philly Leader. “This is a violation of the most vulnerable in our society.”
“To make things worse, Christopher Gheysens, the chair of CHOP’s board, also serves on the board of Villanova University—a Catholic institution that claims to defend the sanctity of life,” Burch said. “This kind of hypocrisy cannot go unchecked. We must protect our children from these devastating and permanent surgeries!”
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), was among the “12 worst offending children’s hospitals promoting sex change treatments for minors" for performing such experimentation on 122 patients between 2019 and 2023," reported Philly Leader last week.
That’s according to a national database released today of hospitals and medical facilities “administering irreversible sex change interventions on children in the United States” by the organization Do No Harm.
The data represents sources including “claims clearinghouses, data aggregators, payors, health systems, CMS, and multiple open data sources,” according to Do No Harm, and includes data from commercial insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and VA claims.”
CHOP saw 122 “sex change” patients, who were children, from 2019 to 2023, according to the database, including 5 surgery patients and 117 total “hormone and puberty blocker” patients. There were 768 total prescriptions written. In all, it amounted to $230,784 total submitted charges.
Gheysens, the chairman of CHOP's board of trustees, is a 1989 graduate of Villanova University, a Catholic institution founded by the Order of St. Augustine. Gheysens is also a member of the university's Board of Trustees and former chair of the Dean's Advisory Council for the Villanova School of Business.
As of publication time, Villanova University had not responded to a reporter's request for comment on this story.
Gheysens is also the CEO of Wawa, Inc., headquartered in Wawa, Pa. in Delaware County. Founded in 1964 in Folsom, PA, Wawa, Inc. is a privately held company that operates a chain of convenience stores and gas stations in the United States. The company’s stores are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Washington, D.C.
CHOP has operated the “Gender & Sexuality Development Clinic” since 2014. The clinic "offers medical care and mental health support for gender nonconforming, gender expansive and transgender children and youth up to age 21 and their families," according to the CHOP website.
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (UPMC) was the only other Pennsylvania hospital to make the group’s “Dirty Dozen” list, seeing 28 “sex change patients,” including 4 surgery patients and 24 total “hormone and puberty blocker patients.” There were 123 total prescriptions written at UPMC, with $5,850 in total charges.
In all, hospitals in Pa. saw 822 minors who were “sex change patients,” including 316 total surgery patients. These Pa. hospitals administered “hormone and puberty blockers” to 518 total children, and wrote 3,469 prescriptions. In all, it totalled $6,032,103 in total submitted charges.
Do No Harm said the database “catalogs pediatric sex change-related services, including surgeries, cross-sex hormones, and puberty blockers, at U.S.-based medical facilities between 2019 and 2023.”
Chloe Cole, a senior fellow at Do No Harm, said the database “proves the lies from the medical establishment and radical politicians who argue that cases like mine are rare.”
A 20-year-old woman who said that she had “gender dysphoria” was given “puberty blockers,” testosterone and had a double mastectomy at age 12, Cole has since “de-transitioned” and supports bans on the chemical castration of minors.
“The stats in this database represent thousands of kids who are being treated like Guinea pigs for unproven, and sometimes dangerous, medical experiments,” said Cole. “I hope politicians and parents alike use this database to see where these treatments are happening and protect their children from being rushed into irreversible, life-altering treatments.”
Nationally, 13,994 children received sex change related treatments between 2019 and 2023, according to Do No Harm’s database. This includes 5,747 sex change surgeries performed on children, and 62,682 hormone and puberty blockers prescriptions written for 8,579 pediatric patients.
“At least $119,791,202 made from sex change treatments performed on minors,” reported the organization.
Founded in 2008, CatholicVote is a political advocacy organization in the United States that promotes Catholic teachings in the public sphere. It focuses on issues such as religious liberty, opposition to abortion, and traditional family values. CatholicVote engages in voter education, lobbying, and endorses candidates who align with its policy goals.
The "Dirty Dozen" Hospitals
The “12 worst offending children’s hospitals promoting sex change treatments for minors" according to Do No Harm.
Alerts Sign-up