The Trump administration announced on Thursday a multi-departmental offensive to prevent hospitals from using pharmaceutical or surgical interventions to perform “sex-rejecting” procedures on children under the age of 18, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Thursday.
The proposed rules will also work to prevent the illegal marketing of medical devices, such as breast binders, to children for the purposes of treating gender dysphoria, and to reverse the Biden administration’s attempt to include gender dysphoria within the definition of a “disability.”
According to HHS claims data, nearly 14,000 minors received sex-rejecting procedures between 2019 and 2023.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. signed a declaration Thursday stating that sex-rejecting procedures such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical operations “do not meet professionally recognized standards of health care,” and will consider practitioners who provide such services out of compliance with the new standards.
The series of proposed regulatory actions will work to carry out President Trump’s Executive Order that directs HHS to end the practice of sex-rejecting procedures on children that “expose young people to irreversible harm.”
“Sex-rejecting procedures on children — which include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical operations — cause irreversible damage, including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, and other irreversible physiological effects,” HHS explained.
Ending these procedures will also be a condition for participation in Medicare and Medicaid programs, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced.
“Nearly all U.S. hospitals participate in Medicare and Medicaid and this action is designed to ensure that the U.S. government will not be in business with organizations that intentionally or unintentionally inflict permanent harm on children,” according to HHS.
CMS cited the authority it is given in sections 1861(e)(9), 1871, and 1905(a) of the Social Security Act to establish standards necessary “to protect patient health and safety in Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals,” and noted that the proposed rules would also apply to the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funds.
HHS is also working to provide parents with information on gender dysphoria and published a peer-reviewed study in November titled “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices,” which illustrates the medical dangers posed to children from attempts to change their biological sex.
“Parents have been misinformed” about gender dysphoria by the Biden administration and left-leaning activists, an HHS official told reporters during a press call on Thursday, and the proposed regulations will work to help parents protect their children.
To help support parents, Assistant Secretary for Health and Head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Admiral Brian Christine, M.D., signed a public health message on Thursday that gives healthcare providers, families, and policymakers the evidence to argue against false claims by left-leaning activists that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries are safe and effective treatments for pediatric gender dysphoria.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is focusing efforts on the illegal marketing of breast binders, which are Class 1 medical devices used for purposes such as assistance in recovery from cancer-related mastectomy. Breast binders have been marketed to children for the purposes of treating gender dysphoria, and the FDA is sending warning letters to 12 manufacturers ordering them to stop the practice and providing information on how to take corrective action.
The Office for Civil Rights has also proposed a revision to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to clarify that the definitions of “disability” and “individual with a disability” exclude “gender dysphoria” not resulting from physical impairments. The rule would reassure recipients of HHS funding that policies preventing or limiting sex-rejecting procedures do not violate Section 504’s disability nondiscrimination requirements.
