Dive Brief:
The White House issued a fact sheet Monday detailing steps the Trump administration has taken toward implementing its January executive order limiting gender-affirming medical treatments for minors.
The steps include tasking the Department of Justice with investigating providers and drug manufacturers that enable gender-affirming care for minors and instructing the HHS to publish findings from a 90-day literature review. The review, which is being prepared by an unnamed panel of “distinguished scholars,” will detail “best-practices to promote the health of children who assert gender dysphoria,” according to a fact sheet.
The executive order aimed to reduce access to gender-affirming medical services, including puberty blockers, hormone therapies and surgeries, for those under the age of 19 by barring providers from receiving federal funds.
Dive Insight:
Although only approximately 1% of American adults identified as transgender last year, President Donald Trump has made transgender issues a focal point of his administration, including those involving children.
The executive order, dubbed “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” aims to make youth gender-affirming care less attractive for providers. However, the order has faced multiple court challenges, including from providers who argue it’s “openly discriminatory” toward transgender people. In March, a federal court judge issued a temporary injunction blocking part of the executive order.
Still, the order has caused a chilling effect. Several prominent children’s hospitals have altered their gender-affirming care policies in light of the directives, including Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Penn State Health, UPMC and Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
Monday’s fact sheet gives insight into how the Trump administration has tapped different agencies to overhaul policies related to transgender care, including the CMS, the Justice Department, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, according to Monday’s fact sheet.
Trump has tasked the DOJ with investigating parties that have enabled gender-affirming care for minors, including providers that have performed services and companies that “misled the public about the long-term side effects” of treatments under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, according to the fact sheet. The Trump administration has also created a website where concerned parties can act as whistleblowers on gender-affirming care, and proposed establishing a private right of action, with a long statute of limitations, to allow children or their families who have been treated to sue for damages.
The administration has also cut funds for medical institutions it says are using federal funds to provide services for transgender youth. Over 200 grants worth more than $477 million have been cut since January.
In addition to tasking agencies with enforcing the order, Trump has also ordered the government to rescind all policies that rely on guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Although guidance from WPATH is accepted by most medical groups, Trump argues the standards are based on “political considerations.” He seeks to replace it with the results of a literature review from a panel of scholars commissioned by the HHS.
