In the US, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released proposed regulatory actions to carry out the Executive Order of Donald Trump, the country’s first convicted felon president, that directed the HHS to end gender-affirming procedures for transgender people, including pharmaceutical and surgical interventions that align a person’s physical appearance or body with their self-identification that’s different from their assigned sex at birth.
More particularly:
- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is slated to release a notice of proposed rulemaking to bar hospitals from performing gender-affirming procedures on children under age 18 as a condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid programs. Since almost all US hospitals participate in Medicare and Medicaid, they will be obligated to refuse serving younger transgender people, or else be sanctioned by Trump’s government.
- CMS will release a notice of proposed rulemaking to prohibit federal Medicaid funding for sex-rejecting procedures on children under age 18. The same prohibition would apply to federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding for these procedures on individuals under age 19.
Positioning this as good for transgender people, America’s anti-vaccination HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said that “the federal government will do everything in its power to stop unsafe, irreversible practices that put our children at risk. This (a)dministration will protect America’s most vulnerable. Our children deserve better—and we are delivering on that promise.”
TV personality turned government official CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz added: “This proposal seeks to clarify that hospitals participating in our programs cannot conduct these unproven procedures on children. CMS will ensure that federal program standards reflect our responsibility to promote the health and safety of children.”
Similarly, and continuing the Trump administration’s anti-trans attacks, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is to issue “warning letters” to 12 manufacturers and retailers for illegal marketing of breast binders for the purposes of treating gender dysphoria.
Also, the HHS is also moving to reverse the Biden administration’s attempt to include gender dysphoria within the definition of a disability. The Office for Civil Rights’ newly proposed revision to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 clarifies that the definitions of “disability” and “individual with a disability” exclude “gender dysphoria” not resulting from physical impairments. The rule would reassure recipients of HHS funding that policies preventing or limiting sex-rejecting procedures do not violate Section 504’s disability nondiscrimination requirements.
