President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday to end all federal funding or support for healthcare aimed at aiding the transition of transgender youth. This move is part of a broader series of actions taken by the administration in its early days, restricting transgender rights.
The order, which is expected to face legal challenges, follows Trump’s previous executive order barring transgender individuals from serving in the military and other actions limiting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. The new executive order fulfils a campaign promise to halt what Trump described as “child sexual mutilation,” referring to transgender-related healthcare such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
The order reads: “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.”
Trump’s supporters, like the Alliance Defending Freedom, praised the order, calling it “a refreshing return to sanity.” However, opponents, including Marci Bowers, a gynaecologist and surgeon who provides transgender care, criticized the order, arguing that Trump would be “having blood on his hands.” Despite criticism from religious conservatives and the Republican Party, major medical organizations have endorsed gender-affirming care, citing its life-saving impact on transgender youth at risk of suicide.
Across more than half of U.S. states, Republicans have passed laws or policies banning gender-affirming care for minors, although some of these have been blocked or overturned in the courts. A case regarding Tennessee’s law is currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court, which could have national implications.
Chase Strangio, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, stated the order would be challenged in court, calling it “dangerous, sweeping, and unconstitutional.” Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ civil rights group, vowed to oppose the order, saying it would cause “unnecessary pain and suffering” for transgender youth and their families.
The executive order aims to prevent Medicare payments for such healthcare and seeks to undermine Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which prohibits insurers from denying coverage to transgender patients. The order also mandates that the Secretary of Health and Human Services conduct a review of existing literature on transgender healthcare for minors within 90 days and improve data collection on the issue.
Dr. Bowers, former president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), argued that peer-reviewed data supports current standards of providing transition services for youth who are “insistent, consistent, and persistent” about their gender identity.
Critics of the medical community’s stance, however, suggest that the prevailing approach will ultimately be judged as erroneous. Jay Richards of the Heritage Foundation described the current gender discourse in medical practice as a harmful ideology.
