Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a series of actions to fulfill President Trump’s order on protecting children from genital mutilation.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will release a notice of proposed rules to prevent hospitals from performing transgender procedures on those under the age of 18. “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,” HHS explained in a press release. An additional forthcoming proposed policy will prohibit federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding for the procedures.
“Under my leadership, and answering President Trump’s call to action, the federal government will do everything in its power to stop unsafe, irreversible practices that put our children at risk,” Kennedy said. “This Administration will protect America’s most vulnerable. Our children deserve better—and we are delivering on that promise.”
A declaration from Secretary Kennedy details that “current medical evidence does not support a favorable risk/benefit profile for using these interventions to treat pediatric gender dysphoria.”
“Sex-rejecting procedures for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective as a treatment modality for gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, or other related disorders in minors, and therefore, fail to meet professional recognized standards of health care,” the declaration asserts.
The declaration and forthcoming policy proposals come as HHS published a peer-reviewed report exposing the dangers posed to children from efforts to change their biological sex. The report found that the harms of “gender-affirming” care are “significant, long term, and too often ignored or inadequately tracked,” the agency said.
