Abdul El-Sayed in close-up portrait wearing a dark suit.El-Sayed Compares Circumcision to Child Sex-Change Surgery
Intra-Party Split Detected
Some left-leaning commentators (e.g., DropSite News co-founder Ryan Grim, a civil rights attorney) publicly criticized El-Sayed's circumcision comparison as an ineffective or flawed talking point, breaking from the candidate's defense.
Left says
- •Medical decisions for minors, including any gender-related care, should remain a matter between the patient, their parents, and their doctor rather than being dictated by politicians or government mandates.
- •El-Sayed's point was about consistency: government scrutiny of parental medical choices is being applied selectively to transgender care while routine, culturally accepted procedures like circumcision go unquestioned despite also being irreversible surgeries performed on children who cannot consent.
- •Framing this as a 'defense of cutting off kids' genitals' distorts a nuanced argument about medical autonomy and government overreach into inflammatory shorthand.
- •El-Sayed's platform reflects a broader belief that expanding healthcare access, including through Medicare for All, should not come with government-imposed restrictions on what specific treatments doctors and families can choose.
Right says
- •Comparing routine circumcision, a widely practiced and medically endorsed procedure, to irreversible gender-transition surgery on minors is seen as a false equivalence that trivializes the seriousness of the latter.
- •Many view El-Sayed's deflection, turning the question back on the host by asking about his personal circumcision status, as evasive rather than a genuine answer to whether he supports taxpayer-funded sex-change procedures for children.
- •Public opinion polling is cited to show that a majority of Americans oppose minors receiving gender-transition surgeries, hormone treatments, or puberty blockers, making El-Sayed's position politically risky in Michigan.
- •Critics argue that El-Sayed's support for Medicare for All would make taxpayers financially responsible for procedures many find morally objectionable, a concern they say he avoided addressing directly.
Common Take
High Consensus- El-Sayed compared circumcision to gender-transition surgery during a contentious exchange with Jesse Watters on Fox News.
- Critics from both the left and right pushed back on El-Sayed's comparison as not landing effectively, including some progressive commentators who distanced themselves from it.
- The exchange became a viral moment that drew national political attention ahead of the Michigan Senate race.
- Both sides recognize that circumcision and gender-transition surgery are medically distinct procedures, even as they disagree on the relevance of that distinction to the underlying policy debate.
The Arguments
Left argues
El-Sayed's core point is about consistency: government scrutiny of parental medical decisions is being selectively applied to transgender care while circumcision, an irreversible genital surgery on a nonconsenting minor, is culturally exempted from the same scrutiny.
Right counters
Circumcision is a brief, low-complication procedure with decades of endorsement from major medical bodies for hygienic and health benefits, whereas gender-transition surgery involves extensive reconstruction of healthy tissue and organ removal, making the comparison one of scale and irreversibility that most people intuitively reject as false equivalence.
Right argues
When directly asked whether he supports taxpayer-funded sex-change surgeries for minors, El-Sayed avoided a yes-or-no answer and instead turned the question back on the host, which critics see as evasion on a politically consequential policy question voters deserve clarity on.
Left counters
El-Sayed did answer substantively by articulating a consistent principle—that medical decisions for minors should be made by doctors, patients, and parents rather than legislated by politicians—which is a coherent policy position even if it doesn't satisfy a demand for a simple soundbite.
Right argues
Polling consistently shows strong majorities of Americans, including many Democrats, oppose minors receiving gender-transition surgeries, hormone treatments, or puberty blockers, meaning El-Sayed's position is out of step with mainstream public opinion in a swing state like Michigan.
Left counters
Public opinion on complex medical ethics questions is often shaped by inflammatory rhetoric and incomplete information rather than clinical realities, and politicians standing on principle against government intrusion into medical decision-making shouldn't be faulted simply because the position polls poorly.
Left argues
Framing El-Sayed's argument as a 'defense of cutting off kids' genitals' is inflammatory shorthand that obscures his actual point about who should have authority over medical decisions—doctors, patients, and families—versus government mandates.
Right counters
El-Sayed himself invited the graphic framing by comparing circumcision to castration-adjacent procedures in a nationally televised exchange, and when asked to clarify or set boundaries around what taxpayer-funded 'necessary health care' would include under Medicare for All, he did not do so.
Right argues
El-Sayed supports Medicare for All, which would make taxpayers directly financially responsible for procedures many Americans find morally objectionable, yet he sidestepped this financial and ethical dimension when pressed.
Left counters
Universal healthcare systems routinely cover medically recognized treatments that not every taxpayer personally endorses—from abortion to end-of-life care to elective surgeries—and singling out gender-affirming care for special taxpayer objection reflects political targeting rather than a coherent healthcare funding principle.
Challenge Questions
These questions target genuine internal contradictions — meant to provoke honest reflection.
Right asks Left
“If medical decisions for minors should be left entirely to doctors, patients, and parents without government involvement, does that principle also extend to parents who might seek irreversible procedures the left otherwise opposes, such as unproven or experimental treatments, and if not, on what basis would the government intervene?”
Left asks Right
“If circumcision is medically endorsed by major health organizations and gender-affirming care for minors is also endorsed by numerous major medical associations, why is government intervention warranted for one but framed as an unacceptable overreach for the other?”
Outlier Report
Left Fringe
Figures like Abdul El-Sayed himself and some further-left activists/outlets (e.g., segments of the DSA-aligned or trans-advocacy commentariat) who argue medical autonomy should apply uniformly to pediatric gender care with minimal restriction represent a minority position; likely around 15-20% of the left holds this uncompromising stance, while most Democrats and left-leaning moderates support some age/parental safeguards.
Right Fringe
Commentators like Blaze Media's writers and some Daily Wire contributors use maximalist, inflammatory language ('mutilation,' 'barbaric') that goes beyond simple policy disagreement into moral condemnation; this represents a vocal but not universal segment, roughly 20-25% of the right, with many center-right voters holding more measured skepticism about pediatric gender procedures without adopting the harshest rhetoric.
Sources (6)
<img src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/el-sayed-gives-bizarre-defense-for-cutting-off-kids-genitals-on-fox-news.jpg?id=67671416&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=3%2C0%2C3%2C0" /><br /><br /><p>Abdul El-Sayed, the Islamic Democrat hoping to win an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, has mounted a bizarre defense of a barbaric practice that he wants American taxpayers to fund: sex-rejection mutilations for children.</p><p>On "Jesse Watters Primetime" on Fox News Monday, El-Sayed — who holds a medical degree but has seemingly <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/12/abdul-el-sayed-doctor-physician-00916389" target="_blank">never</a> put it to clinical use — repeatedly dodged when the eponymous host pressed him with difficult questions, especially regarding medical care.</p><p class="pull-quote">'Abdul, Michigan's not going for that.'</p><p>Growing visibly frustrated with El-Sayed's evasiveness during their nearly half-hour exchange, Watters asked the Democrat flatly, "Sex changes for minors. Do you support that?"<br /></p><p>"Look, you know, 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 health care you should have," said El-Sayed. "I just think the government shouldn't tell you what kind of health care you should have, and if you're a minor, it's between you, your doctor, and your parents."</p><p>"You want to 'try' on kids?" said the revulsed host.</p><p>El-Sayed responded, "If you disagree with that, if you disagree that health care decisions need to be made by a doctor and their parents and a patient, then I just think we agree to disagree," neglecting to mention that under <a href="https://abdulforsenate.com/priority/medicare-for-all-the-path-to-a-healthier-america/" target="_blank">Medicare for all</a>, which he supports, the taxpayer would effectively be made complicit in any such decision. </p><p>"But you want to put government inside a clinic or a hospital selectively," El-Sayed told Watters.</p><p><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/tech/sacrificing-body-parts-and-informed-consent-to-the-sex-change-regime" target="_blank">Sacrificing body parts and informed consent to the sex-change regime</a></strong></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube"> <span class="rm-shortcode" style="display: block; padding-top: 56.25%;"></span> </p><p>Watters pressed the issue, asking El-Sayed whether he, as a doctor, "thinks it's OK for a parent to slash his kid's ding-a-ling off. You think that's OK?"</p><p>"Do you really want to have this conversation?" responded El-Sayed. "Are you circumcised?"</p><p>Watters confirmed that he was indeed circumcised, then noted that "circumcision is different than castration."</p><p>"It's a problem that you think that you get to decide what happens between a parent, a doctor, and a patient," said El-Sayed. "I'm just saying that yes, circumcision is a surgery on a kid's ding-a-ling, so if you really want to bring that up, you can. I just think you guys are really selective."</p><p>"That's wacky. Abdul, Michigan's not going for that. That is sick stuff," said Watters.</p><p>Monday night, Michigan GOP senior communication adviser Greg Manz <a href="https://x.com/Greg_Manz/status/2092070676374921657" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">retweeted</a> a clip of the exchange between El-Sayed and Watters along with a statement previously given to Blaze News: "Michigan taxpayers footing the bill for abortions and irreversible gender reassignment surgeries, even for children — it doesn't get more extreme than that."</p><p>The "war room" account for Republican candidate Mike Rogers called opponent El-Sayed a "<a href="https://x.com/RFSWarRoom/status/2092232050627494097" target="_blank">conman</a>" who "is too extreme for Michigan."</p><p>Despite El-Sayed's insinuation that circumcision and sex-rejection surgeries are in the same ballpark, they are worlds apart.</p><p>Male circumcision simply involves the removal of the foreskin covering the tip of the penis, but so-called feminizing genital surgery — the sex-rejection procedure performed on confused male victims' genitals — is a complicated and horrific procedure.</p><p><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/el-sayeds-mom-worked-for-designated-terror-group-that-financed-bin-ladin-ahead-of-911-report" target="_blank">El-Sayed's mom worked for designated terror group that financed bin Laden ahead of 9/11: Report </a></strong></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"> <img alt="" class="rm-shortcode" id="9de66" src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=67672493&width=980" /> <small class="image-media media-photo-credit">Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images</small></p><p><a href="https://www.plasticsurgery.org/reconstructive-procedures/feminizing-genital-surgery/procedure" target="_blank">According</a> to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, in this procedure, </p><ul><li>the testicles are cut off; </li><li>the skin along the shaft of the penis is separated from the penile tissue and preserved to construct a fake vagina; </li><li>a portion of the glans of the penis along with some blood vessels and nerves are fashioned into a fake clitoris; </li><li>a space is hollowed out between the bladder and the rectum; </li><li>the skin that once encased the victim's penis is turned inside out and put into the space; </li><li>the urethra is shortened; </li><li>the "scrotal skin is rearranged and used to surgically construct a labia majora"; and </li><li>a temporary catheter is shoved into the victim's bladder.</li></ul><p>The sex-rejection procedure that is performed on females is also a <a href="https://www.plasticsurgery.org/reconstructive-procedures/masculinizing-genital-surgery/procedure" target="_blank">complicated affair</a> that requires multiple mutilations, including the removal of skin, fat, nerves, arteries, and/or veins from other parts of the body and a lengthening of the urethra to construct a fake and nonfunctioning penis.</p><p>El-Sayed won't take a stand against such procedures, but most Americans think they're unconscionable. </p><p>According to a <a href="https://news.gallup.com/file/poll/710819/260603LGBTQ.pdf" target="_blank">nationwide Gallup poll</a> conducted in May, 57% of U.S. adults believe that "changing one's gender" is morally wrong. <strong></strong>A 2026 SLU/YouGov Poll conducted in Missouri <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/missouri-abortion-gender-transition-minors-amendment-3" target="_blank">found</a> that 67% of voters opposed sex-rejection medications for minors and 73% opposed sex-rejection surgeries. </p><p>A <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/02/26/americans-have-grown-more-supportive-of-restrictions-for-trans-people-in-recent-years/" target="_blank">February 2025 Pew Research Center survey</a> found that 56% of American adults want to make it illegal for health care professionals to provide minors with sex-rejection "medical care." A <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/05/05/trans-poll-gop-politics-laws/" target="_blank">Washington Post-KFF poll </a>found in 2023 that 68% of Americans oppose puberty blockers for trans-identifying kids ages 10 to 14, and nearly 60% opposed hormonal treatments for teens ages 15 to 17.</p><p>El-Sayed has repeatedly <a href="https://abdulforsenate.com/priority/medicare-for-all-the-path-to-a-healthier-america/" target="_blank">vowed</a> to "fight to expand Medicare to cover all necessary health care" and "extend it to every single American from cradle to grave without premiums, copays, or deductibles." He has <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/horrific-abdul-el-sayed-makes-damning-admissions-about-his-medicare-for-all-scheme" target="_self">acknowledged</a> that this scheme will not only require higher taxes but would pay for so-called "reproductive rights" and "gender-affirming care."</p><p>El-Sayed's campaign did not immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment.</p><p><em>Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. </em><em><a href="https://www.theblaze.com/newsletters/theblaze-articlelink" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_self">Sign up here</a></em><em>!</em></p>
In an astonishing prime-time moment, Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed left viewers stunned Monday night after attempting to equate routine, health-promoting male circumcision with irreversible gender surgeries for minors. Appearing on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime,” the leftist candidate found himself backed into a corner when host Watters grilled him on whether he supported ...
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed compared Sharia Law to Canon Law when he was pressed by Fox News host Jesse Watters on Monday night on a past eyebrow-raising statement about America’s opposition to Sharia. During an interview on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” El-Sayed, a Muslim, was confronted with a statement he made in 2022 when ...
Abdul El-Sayed's comparison of circumcision to child sex changes on Jesse Watters' show drew backlash from both left and right-leaning critics.
<p>“Do you really want to have this conversation? Are you circumcised?”</p> The post <a href="https://legalinsurrection.com/2026/08/abdul-el-sayed-tries-to-compare-gender-transitioning-of-children-to-circumcision/">Abdul El-Sayed Tries to Compare Gender Transitioning of Children to Circumcision</a> first appeared on <a href="https://legalinsurrection.com">Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion</a>.