Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Discusses Sex Changes
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed faced a direct question about sex-change procedures for minors Monday night, responding that medical decisions involving children should remain between patients, their parents and doctors rather than being dictated by the government.
The exchange came during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” where host Jesse Watters asked El-Sayed a straightforward question: “Sex changes for minors, do you support that?”
Rather than answer with a simple yes or no, El-Sayed framed his response around the limits of government involvement in healthcare.
“Look, I remember having great conversations with my conservative friends about right to try legislation, the idea that the government shouldn’t tell you what kind of healthcare you should have,” El-Sayed said. “I just think the government shouldn’t tell you what kind of healthcare you should have, and if you’re a minor, that should be between you and your doctor and your parents.”
Watters quickly challenged that comparison.
“You want to try on kids?” the Fox News host interjected.
El-Sayed continued by arguing that opponents of such procedures would have to explain why the government should intervene in some medical decisions but not others.
“Now, if you disagree with that, if you disagree that healthcare decisions need to be made by a doctor and their parents and a patient, then I just think we agree to disagree, but you want to put government inside a clinic or a hospital selectively,” he said.
The exchange exposed the fundamental disagreement between the two men. Watters sought a direct statement about whether El-Sayed supports sex-change procedures for minors, while El-Sayed instead focused on who should have the authority to make medical decisions involving a child.
El-Sayed also brought circumcision into the discussion as an example of what he described as selective government involvement in medical decisions concerning minors.
His reference to “right to try” legislation added another layer to the argument. Such laws have generally been intended to allow terminally ill patients to seek access to certain investigational treatments outside the conventional federal approval process. El-Sayed invoked the principle behind that policy — limiting government interference between patients and medical treatment — while discussing healthcare decisions involving minors.
Watters, however, clearly rejected the comparison, with his “You want to try on kids?” interruption challenging whether a policy argument centered on patient autonomy can be applied in the same fashion when the patient is a child.
Notably, El-Sayed did not provide the direct yes-or-no response Watters initially requested. He instead said that when a minor is involved, the decision should be made by the patient, the parents and the doctor.