President Trump has issued an executive order prohibiting the use of federal funds for pediatric transgender procedures. The order, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” and posted to the White House website Tuesday afternoon, says:
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. This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation’s history, and it must end.
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. 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, sterilization.
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 is very comprehensive. It prohibits federal funds, support, or promotion of pediatric gender-affirming medical interventions. Included in that is a directive that medical institutions that engage in pediatric transgender treatments will lose federal research and education grants.
Federal health insurance programs, such as Federal Employee Health Benefits, Postal Service Health Benefits, and TriCare, do not cover the treatments.
The Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Justice are directed to take action to reduce the use of puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and gender-related surgeries for individuals under the age of 19.
The order also targets the alleged science behind the treatments. It calls out the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care Version 8 as “junk science” (The Arguments Supporting ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ Have Never Been ‘Based on the Science’ – RedState) and directs all agencies to “rescind or amend all policies that rely on WPATH guidance.”
As a kicker, the Department of Justice is directed to investigate deceptive practices or misinformation regarding the long-term effects of gender-affirming care, including potential fraud or violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Overall, it is wide-ranging on the idea that children should undergo chemical or surgical mutilation. It attacks the alleged science behind it, cuts off cash flows (Vanderbilt University Halts Transgender Surgeries After Exposés by Matt Walsh, Tucker Carlson – RedState), and makes practitioners vulnerable to civil liability and criminal charges.
