RFK calls on health agencies to re-evaluate transgender procedures for minors

Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has urged health care providers and state medical boards to review his department’s report on transgender treatments and update protocols for minors who struggle with gender dysphoria.

HHS released a 409-page report May 1 concluding puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and transgender surgeries pose significant risk of harm to children.

“The findings of the Review align with those of European countries, such as Sweden, Finland, and England, which have ‘sharply restricted’ access to these interventions for minors following systematic reviews of evidence commissioned by their public health authorities, concluding that the risks outweigh the benefits,” Kennedy wrote in a letter posted May 28 on X.

Kennedy warned providers against relying on the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards of care, which he called fraudulent, biased and dismissive of evidence-based research.

The HHS report, in contrast to WPATH, found risks of pediatric medical transition include infertility, sterility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density, cardiovascular disease, psychiatric disorders, cognitive disorders and regret.

“The evidence for benefit of pediatric medical transition is very uncertain, while the evidence for harm is less uncertain,” the paper concluded. “When medical interventions pose unnecessary, disproportionate risks of harm, healthcare providers should refuse to offer them even when they are preferred, requested, or demanded by patients.”

The report followed President Donald Trump’s executive order Jan. 28 requiring Kennedy to publish a review of the practices for children with gender dysphoria or identity confusion.

“The blatant harm done to children by chemical and surgical mutilation cloaks itself in medical necessity, spurred by guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which lacks scientific integrity,” Trump wrote in his order.

In anticipation of the report, The Endocrine Society – an organization dedicated to hormone research – defended transgender procedures in a press release May 8.

“We stand firm in our support of gender-affirming care,” the release said. “Transgender and gender-diverse people deserve access to needed and often life-saving medical care.”

However, the HHS subagency, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced May 28 it will review hospitals that perform “‘sex trait modification procedures’ on children,” CNN reported.

The subagency promised it “will not turn a blind eye to procedures that lack a solid foundation of evidence and may result in lifelong harm,” administrator Mehmet Oz told CNN.