A Republican-aligned political advertisement attacking Ohio U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown over transgender health care is facing scrutiny after reporting found that the woman featured in the ad underwent surgery as an adult and received her medical care outside Ohio.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidates, has released several advertisements accusing Brown of supporting what the group describes as “forcing childhood sex change surgery.” Recent ads feature Soren Aldaco, a 23-year-old detransitioner who has publicly criticized the gender-affirming care she received.
In one advertisement, Aldaco says Brown supports “irreversible surgery on kids like me.” In another, she describes receiving hormone treatment followed by a double mastectomy and says she underwent surgery without her parents’ consent.
But records connected to Aldaco’s litigation in Texas show that she was 19 when she underwent the mastectomy, meaning she was legally an adult and parental consent was not required. She also lived in Texas and received her treatment there, rather than in Ohio.
The broader allegation against Brown has also been challenged by fact-checkers.
The Senate Leadership Fund has pointed to comments Brown made during a 2023 television interview while discussing proposed federal restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors. Brown said health care decisions involving children should remain between patients, parents, families, and doctors rather than politicians.
PolitiFact reported this week that it found no evidence Brown has advocated “forcing” minors to undergo gender-transition surgery. The organization noted that Brown’s comments addressed who should make medical decisions rather than endorsing compulsory treatment.
The issue is further complicated by existing Ohio law. The state enacted restrictions in 2024 prohibiting physicians from performing gender-reassignment surgery on minors, while other portions of Ohio’s restrictions on gender-affirming medical care have faced continuing legal challenges.
Republican strategist Bob Clegg defended the advertisements, arguing that Aldaco’s experience remains relevant to the larger debate over medical interventions for young people despite her being 19 at the time of surgery.
Brown, who lost his Senate seat in 2024, is running in 2026 against Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who was appointed to the Senate after JD Vance became vice president.
The dispute arrives as transgender issues once again become a prominent theme in political advertising. Republican-aligned groups have spent heavily in Ohio’s Senate contest, with advertisements targeting Brown on transgender rights among several issues.
For voters, however, the distinction at the center of the latest ad is straightforward: Aldaco describes an experience that began while she was a teenager, but the surgery highlighted in the advertisement occurred when she was 19, not while she was a minor.
