The Trump administration aims to restrict gender transition treatments for minors in the US
Trump administration Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. on Thursday announced a set of measures aimed at severely limiting transgender minors' access to gender transition treatments in the United States, including in states where these medical procedures are legal. The announcement provoked harsh reactions from health professionals and organizations supporting the LGBT+ community, reports AFP, taken over by Agerpres.
PHOTO: X / isabellehanne
According to Robert Kennedy Jr., “so-called gender-affirming healthcare” allegedly motivated by “ideological considerations” and would be provoked “lasting physical and psychological harm to vulnerable young people”. The American official made these statements during a press conference, thus justifying the change in policy.
The announced measures would significantly reduce federal funding for hospitals that provide hormone treatments or surgery to minors who do not identify with the gender assigned at birth. Under these conditions, access to such procedures could become extremely difficult or even impossible.
The reactions were not slow to appear. “Gender transition treatments are life-saving care,” said Jamila Perritt, representative of Physicians for Reproductive Health, in a statement denouncing a “deliberate and targeted attack on transgender youth, their families and doctors committed to providing patients with the care they need.”
The actions announced by the Department of Health will be subject to public consultation and are expected to be challenged in court by civic organizations or Democratic-led states, if enacted.
Since returning to power, Donald Trump has reversed several measures favorable to transgender people, including the decision to exclude them from the armed forces. In May, the Department of Health published a wide-ranging report warning of “significant risks” associated with gender transition treatments, a document disputed by the scientific community.
The access of minors to hormonal or surgical treatments for gender transition remains a subject of intense debate in the United States, but also in other countries around the world.
