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The Trump administration has ramped up its battle against “gender-affirming care” for minors, sending subpoenas to providers and opening an investigation into whether the industry is engaged in deceptive trade practices.
The Justice Department announced that it has issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics providing services such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender-change surgeries to patients under 18.
“We’re investigating violations such as health-care fraud, false statements, all of which could result in either civil or criminal liability for these clinics,” Chad Mizelle, Justice Department chief of staff, said at a workshop on “gender-affirming care” held by the Federal Trade Commission.
The department is also investigating major pharmaceutical companies for possible violations of drug-marketing laws and the Food and Drug Cosmetic Act, as well as nonprofit and medical organizations that support “gender-affirming care” for minors.
“The way you’re going to take down this multi-billion-dollar industry is for people to speak out,” Mr. Mizelle said at the forum. “We’re using all the tools of the Department of Justice to address this issue.”
His comments represented some of the strongest statements yet from the Trump administration on gender-transition procedures for minors, but that wasn’t all.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said the agency plans to issue a public request for information next week on whether the industry is misleading consumers by overselling the benefits of gender-transition medical procedures or failing to disclose the risks to parents and children.
“As chairman, I am not charged with passing moral judgment on anyone’s ideology, lifestyle or medical choices,” Mr. Ferguson said. “I am charged, however, with protecting my fellow citizens from unfair or deceptive trade practices, and experience has taught us the more vulnerable the population, the more likely they are to be targeted.”
He dismissed the argument that the commission shouldn’t get involved with regulating the medical industry or delve into politically charged topics, saying the agency has brought dozens of enforcement actions against deceptive health claims.
“Refusing to investigate these health claims and the potential consumer harm to parents and children merely because one political party supports those claims as a matter of its ideology would be the politicized choice,” Mr. Ferguson said.
The forum, entitled “The Dangers of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Minors,” featured panel discussions with medical experts, conservative activists, and a dozen “detransitioners” and parents who described their firsthand experiences.
“I hadn’t even learned algebra in high school yet,” said Claire Abernathy, who underwent a double-mastectomy at age 14 as part of a gender transition. “But I was old enough to choose to have healthy parts of my body electively amputated.”
The event came with gender-transition clinics already reeling from the Supreme Court’s decision last month in U.S. v. Skrmetti, which held that states may pass laws banning “gender-affirming care” for minors.
The Trump administration has also threatened to withhold federal funds from hospitals that perform gender-transition procedures on minors, prompting some facilities to shut their doors.
They include the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the largest such facility in the nation, which has said that it will close on July 22.
The announcement prompted regular protests outside the hospital by supporters of “gender-affirming care,” including some patients.
“I’m one of the lucky ones,” Sage Sol Pitchenik, a client at the center, told the Associated Press. “I learned how to not only survive but how to thrive in my own body because of the lifesaving health care provided to me right here at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.”
Those speaking at the workshop included attorneys, doctors, and representatives from advocacy groups, including Do No Harm, Consumers’ Research, the American Principles Project, and the LGB Courage Coalition.
Dr. Miriam Grossman, a psychiatrist, argued that “there is no objective evidence of being born in the wrong body, and saying so misleads and takes advantage of consumers.”
“I know from my patients, and many others, when young people hear that their feelings are more consequential than their bodies and when they hear this idea endorsed with great certainty by therapists and doctors, echoed by professional organizations and government agencies, they believe it,” said Dr. Grossman, a senior fellow with Do No Harm.
English (US) ·