President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to restrict federal funding and support for gender-affirming care for transgender minors and some adults, which he described as harmful and irreversible. The order, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” targets the use of puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and surgeries for anyone under 19, referring to them as “chemical and surgical mutilation.” It directs federal agencies to rescind policies supporting such treatments, withdraw funding from institutions that provide them, and enforce existing laws limiting access to these procedures.
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“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,” the order states. “This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation’s history, and it must end.”
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The order requires the Department of Health and Human Services to review and revise medical guidelines related to gender-affirming care. It specifically singles out the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and its Standards of Care, calling it lacking in “scientific integrity.” HHS is instructed to publish a review of the existing literature on gender dysphoria and develop alternative guidelines, while agencies like the Department of Justice are tasked with investigating providers and enforcing stricter legal measures against what the order terms “deceptive practices.”
In addition to limiting federal funding, the order directs the Department of Defense to exclude coverage for gender-affirming care under TRICARE, the military’s health care system, and requires the Office of Personnel Management to negotiate reduced premiums by eliminating coverage for pediatric transgender treatments under federal employee health plans. Whistleblower protections are also mandated for those opposing gender-affirming treatments within health care systems.
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The executive order comes amid a series of anti-transgender measures from the Trump administration, including a Monday move toward banning transgender military service and an earlier directive eliminating federal recognition of transgender and nonbinary people’s existence. Under the policy, the federal government recognizes only two genders based on two sexes — male and female — based on characteristics at birth. This rollback of protections removes references to gender identity in federal policies, eliminates accommodations for transgender people in federally funded schools and workplaces, and requires government-issued identification to reflect sex assigned at birth.
Critics have condemned the order as discriminatory and harmful to transgender youth, who already face higher rates of mental health struggles and limited access to affirming care in many states. Medical professionals and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups argue the language of the order perpetuates misinformation, with leading organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association supporting gender-affirming care as medically necessary and life-saving for transgender individuals. LGBTQ+ advocates warn that the order will further marginalize vulnerable youth and contribute to a climate of hostility toward the transgender community.
“Everyone deserves the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions for themselves and their families – no matter your income, zip code, or health coverage,” said Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson. “This executive order is a brazen attempt to put politicians in between people and their doctors, preventing them from accessing evidence-based health care supported by every major medical association in the country. It is deeply unfair to play politics with people’s lives and strip transgender young people, their families, and their providers of the freedom to make necessary health care decisions. Questions about this care should be answered by doctors–not politicians–and decisions must rest with families, doctors, and the patient.”
This story is developing and has been updated with additional reporting.