Up to 100 undergo controversial 'Ashley treatment' to keep disabled children forever small Going under the name AD (Ashley's dad) to preserve his family's anonymity, he told the Guardian: "The Ashley treatment has made her far more likely to be comfortable, healthy and happy. Given the limitations imposed by her medical condition, her life is as good as we can possibly make it. The treatment involved high oestrogen doses to accelerate the closure of the growth plates in Ashley's bones, to stop her growing, as well as surgical interventions. These included removal of her nascent breast buds to avoid the discomfort of having fully-formed breasts later in life, as well as a hysterectomy to avoid menstruation. Curt Decker, director of the National Disability Rights Network, which provides legal services to disabled Americans, said he believed thousands of families were looking at the treatment. His group is preparing to launch a report in April that will urge the US Congress as well as states and individual hospitals to ban growth attenuation treatment for disabled children. Mr Decker said: "This is a violation of the civil rights of individuals, and it should be prohibited. Parents have rationalised that this is an OK thing to do but it treats people as though they have no worth and that's a slippery slope that could end with the idea that people with disabilities don't have to be kept alive or integrated in society.