HHS Issues 409-Page Reality Check Regarding Sex-Change Procedures for Kids

A new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the idea that children with gender dysphoria should be subjected to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex-change surgeries.

Over the past few years, it has become clear that the medical “consensus” regarding transgender procedures on children has been largely manufactured by pro-LGBT groups like WPATH.

Recently, medical professionals in different countries have begun reversing course by adopting policies that protect children from these drugs and surgeries.

For example, the U.K.’s National Health Service reportedly will start advising clinics to assess children who identify as transgender for mental health problems and other conditions. The new guidelines come in the wake of the U.K.’s decision to shutter its transgender clinic and stop giving puberty blockers to children.

In 2021, a major hospital in Sweden announced that it would no longer give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to kids. The hospital noted that giving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children “should be regarded as experimental.”

Finland’s Council for Choices in Health Care has reached the same conclusion, writing, “In light of available evidence, gender reassignment of minors is an experimental practice.” In a comprehensive study published last year, Finnish researchers found transgender surgeries did not appear to resolve the underlying emotional and mental issues that youth with gender dysphoria faced.

The 409-page report the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released on May 1 further challenges the idea that children who disagree with their biological sex ought to be subjected to hormones and sex-change surgeries.

The HHS “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria” report reviewed the evidence and best practices surrounding the treatment of children who struggle with their gender identity. In particular, the report focuses on issues like:  

• Social transition  
• Puberty-blocking drugs  
• Cross-sex hormones
• Transgender surgeries

The report highlights how puberty blockers are physically disruptive for children and can impact fertility, bone density, and neurological development. It also points out that long-term use of cross-sex hormones is linked to increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The report also discusses ethical problems with the way doctors subject children to these drugs and procedures.

In response to the report, the editors at The Wall Street Journal called it “a rebuke of the political and medical conformity that has developed around gender identity, including radical treatments that are opposed by parents.” The Gospel Coalition’s Joe Carter writes, “Knowing that these medical interventions lack a solid evidentiary foundation and carry serious dangers should embolden us to lovingly question the rush to put children on the path to ‘transitioning.'”

All of this underscores why Arkansas was right to pass the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act in 2021.

This good law prevents doctors in Arkansas from performing sex-change surgeries on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

Reports show that since 2019, doctors in Arkansas have given dozens of children puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. Some children even have undergone sex-change surgeries. Arkansas — and other states — need to protect these children.

Unfortunately, the SAFE Act is currently tied up in court. However, given how medical evidence continues to show these procedures hurt kids, we believe our courts ultimately will uphold the SAFE Act as constitutional.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.