US President Donald Trump has singed an Executive Order restricting to use of puberty blockers, hormone treatment and gender reassignment surgery to people under the age of nineteen.
The Executive Order is titled “Protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation”, and is one of slews of orders the President has signed since returning to power. He’s also banned transgender people from serving in the military, and insisted there can only be two genders – and people should be recognised as the gender they were assigned at birth on official forms.
“Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilising 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,” President Trump said.
“This dangerous trend will be a stain on our nation’s history, and it must end.”
He also orders the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct “a review of the existing literature on best practices for promoting the health of children who assert gender dysphoria, rapid-onset gender dysphoria, or other identity-based confusion.” within the next 90 days.
The order does not outlaw gender-affirming care models, and people would still be able to undergo treatments if they are able to fully fund the medications and procedures themsevles.
The Human Rights Campaign, one of the leading LGBTIQA+ rights organisations in the USA has condemned the move.
“Everyone deserves the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions for themselves and their families — no matter their income, zip code, or health coverage.” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said.
“This executive order is a brazen attempt to put politicians in between people and their doctors, preventing them from accessing evidence-based healthcare 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.”
They noted that the current healthcare approach is supported by every major medical association, including the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, and others.
