[President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to end federal support for medical procedures aimed at altering sex or gender that involve surgical interventions or the use of puberty blockers or sex hormones in those under 19 years old.
The order states, “Accordingly, it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.”
The order directs the secretary of health and human services to take all appropriate actions to end the use of gender-affirming care for minors, including actions that could involve Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act. It also instructs HHS to withdraw its guidance on gender-affirming care and patient privacy.
The order condemns gender-affirming care, saying, “Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions.”
However, the practice of gender-affirming care is widely recognized by mainstream medical associations, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the Endocrine Society, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, as a clinically appropriate care that can provide lifesaving treatment for children and adults.
The order also directs federal agencies to withdraw policies based on World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) guidance, which are considered by experts in this practice to be the gold standard around the world.
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