Executive order restricting access to gender-affirming care for young people

The Trump administration issued an Executive Order directing agencies to restrict access to gender-affirming care for individuals under 19 years of age. The order specifically asks agencies to ensure that hospitals, medical schools, and other institutions receiving federal research and education funding stop providing such care to minors. The order also requires HHS to immediately rescind or amend all policies that rely on guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, including its standards of care, and conduct a review of existing literature on best practices related to caring for minors with gender dysphoria. Further, it orders the Secretaries of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense to end the provision of gender-affirming care through federal health insurance programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, and TRICARE and to update interpretation of the Affordable Care Act’s nondiscrimination requirements to conform with the order.

This order promotes dangerous misinformation regarding the safety and efficacy of gender-affirming care that is stigmatizing and not informed by research or medical expertise. These misinformation tactics mirror the strategies used to attack reproductive rights, restrict access to abortion care, and overturn Roe.