President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order aimed at prohibiting government funding, coverage, and promotion of sex-change procedures for minors.
The order, signed on Tuesday, emphasizes the commitment to “protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation,” referring specifically to body-altering procedures performed on individuals under the age of 18 and the prescription of puberty-blocking and cross-sex hormone drugs.
In the order, Trump declared, “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 these destructive and life-altering procedures.”
The executive order outlines examples of “chemical and surgical mutilation,” which include puberty blockers like “GnRH agonists and other interventions” that “delay the onset or progression of normally timed puberty in an individual who does not identify as his or her sex.”
The order also addresses the “use of sex hormones, such as androgen blockers, estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone, to align an individual's physical appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex.”
Furthermore, Trump defined mutilation as “surgical procedures that attempt to transform an individual's physical appearance to align with an identity that differs from his or her sex or that attempt to alter or remove an individual's sexual organs to minimize or destroy their natural biological functions.” The order notes that these practices are referred to as “gender affirming care.”
The executive order instructs heads of executive branch agencies to “take appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children” and to “rescind or amend all policies” that rely on guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which advocates for gender transition procedures for minors.
Additionally, Trump directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to “take all appropriate actions to end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children,” including regulatory actions, conducting a review of existing literature on best practices for promoting the health of children asserting gender dysphoria, and issuing new guidance to protect whistleblowers who report gender transition procedures on minors.
The order also requires the secretary of the Department of Defense to ensure that TRICARE, the department's healthcare program, “will exclude chemical and surgical mutilation of children from coverage and amend the provider handbook accordingly.” Furthermore, it seeks to eliminate “coverage for pediatric transgender surgeries or hormone treatments” from Federal Employee Health Benefits and Postal Service Health Benefits.
As of now, 26 states have enacted bans preventing minors from undergoing some or all gender interventions, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
