The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a series of proposed regulations to prohibit transgender procedures for minors nationwide.

At a press conference, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced “six decisive actions” to “protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation.”

“So-called ‘gender affirming care’ has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people. This is not medicine. It is malpractice,” RFK Jr. said.

“We’re done with junk science, driven by ideological pursuits, not of well-being of children,” he continued.

“This morning, I signed a declaration — sex-rejecting procedures are neither safe nor effective treatments for children with gender dysphoria,” RFK Jr. said.

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“Medical professionals or entities providing sex-rejecting procedures to children are out of compliance with these standards of health care. This declaration is a clear directive to providers to follow the science, and the overwhelming body of evidence that these procedures hurt — not help — children,” he continued.

Fox News has more:

HHS is rolling out a series of policy updates and regulatory actions that effectively would defund hospitals that provide gender transition procedures, according to an HHS official.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rolled out policy proposals that would bar hospitals from carrying out performing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and certain surgeries on patients under 18 as a “condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid programs.” The majority of U.S. hospitals participate in Medicare and Medicaid, according to HHS.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released another proposed rule that would block federal Medicaid funding for procedures aimed at altering the sex of a child under the age of 18, which HHS said also will apply to federal funding to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for the same procedures on individuals under the age of 19.

Collectively, according to the HHS official, the actions would ensure no federal funds directly support gender transition procedures on children.

“On my watch, HHS will stand for radical transparency and informed consent,” said Kennedy. “We follow the evidence. We employ gold standard science. We honor the moral obligation to do no harm. There is divine worth in every person. It shines most brightly in our children that was commanded us to protect them.”

The announcement comes after HHS released a peer-reviewed report in November that found medical procedures to alter a child’s biological sex pose serious long-term dangers to children.

“@POTUS has made child protection a national priority. The Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy demonstrates that commitment. The Strategy calls for an end to overmedicalization. Unnecessary medical interventions drive big-money interests to push sex-rejecting treatments that rob children of their future,” HHS stated.

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Medical groups denounced the announcements, saying they intrude on physician-patient relationships and jeopardize care for everyone.

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“Allowing the government to determine which patient groups deserve care sets a dangerous precedent, and children and families will bear the consequences,” said Dr. Susan Kressly, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“Patients, their families, and their physicians—not politicians or government officials —should be the ones to make decisions together about what care is best for them. The government’s actions today make that task harder, if not impossible, for families of gender-diverse and transgender youth.”

It’s the latest in a string of actions by President Donald Trump’s administration that target transgender people, including eliminating mention of trans people on federal websites, halting data collection on health issues, removing trans people from the military and suing states that allow trans athletes to play on high school sports teams.

Also on Thursdsay, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary also said the agency is sending warning letters to 12 makers and sellers of breast binders who marketed or sold the devices for treatment of gender dysphoria in children.

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya also said the research agency will end support for research into gender transition, saying, “it was junk science to begin with.”

 

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