United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to halt the funding and promotion of gender transitions for LGBTQ youth.
In his order signed on Tuesday, Trump said the federal government would no longer “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support” gender transitions – also referred to as gender-affirming care – for those aged below 19.
Under the order, the Department of Health and Human Services must take “all appropriate actions” to halt gender-affirming care under Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, and publish a review of best practices for promoting the health of youth with gender dysphoria and “other identity-based confusion” within 90 days.
Trump’s order also directs agencies to end their reliance on guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which it accused of peddling “junk science”.
WPATH did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Al Jazeera.
“Countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding,” the order says.
“Moreover, these vulnerable youths’ medical bills may rise throughout their lifetimes, as they are often trapped with lifelong medical complications, a losing war with their own bodies, and, tragically, sterilisation.”
Trump’s order covers a range of treatments and procedures for young people suffering from gender dysphoria – which describes the distress felt by people whose biological sex does not match their gender identity – including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone therapy and surgery.
The medical treatment of transgender youth has been a controversial and politically divisive issue in the US, where those calling for greater inclusion of LGBTQ youth have clashed with those expressing concern that minors are not mature enough to make decisions about potentially life-altering procedures.
The number of young people diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the US has surged severalfold in recent years, though only a relatively small minority of those have undergone medical interventions, according to various analyses.
An analysis by the Reuters news agency and health technology company Komodo Health found that 282 minors with a prior diagnosis of gender dysphoria underwent mastectomies in 2021.
About 4,230 minors received cross-sex hormones and fewer than 1,400 received puberty blockers that year, according to the analysis.
At least 26 US states have passed laws or policies limiting minors’ access to gender-affirming care.
In a Gallup poll last year, 61 percent of Americans said they opposed laws banning psychological support, hormonal treatments, and medical surgeries for minors, compared with 36 percent in favour.
GLADD, one of the biggest LGBTQ rights organisations in the US, blasted Trump’s order, describing its rhetoric as “appallingly inaccurate, incoherent, and extreme”.
“Health care for transgender people is supported by every major medical association. The Trump administration’s unhinged obsession with attacking transgender people and their health care does not reflect medical fact and does not represent the reality of trans people, youth, and their freedom to be themselves, and make their own health care decisions, without being discriminated against and lied about,” GLADD said in a statement.
“The Trump administration’s obsession comes at a high cost for every American who wants the government to address actual issues like gun violence, abortion access, and rising costs.”
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, described the order as a “brazen attempt to put politicians in between people and their doctors, preventing them from accessing evidence-based healthcare supported by every major medical association in the country”.
“It is deeply unfair to play politics with people’s lives and strip transgender young people, their families, and their providers of the freedom to make necessary health care decisions,” Robinson said in a statement.
Leading US medical organisations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have expressed support for gender-affirming care, though several European countries, including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, and France, have taken steps to roll back access to treatments such as puberty blockers.
Last year, the Cass Review, a landmark review commissioned by the UK’s National Health Service, concluded that the evidence behind medical treatments for youth with gender dysphoria was “remarkably weak” and such interventions should only be taken with “extreme caution”.
Among other findings, the review said puberty blockers were not found to relieve gender dysphoria or improve “body satisfaction”, and evidence about their effects on psychological wellbeing, cognitive development and fertility was insufficient or inconsistent.
