RFK’s HHS says male and female are immutable characteristics

Under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is embracing biological reality over gender ideology.

In his first full day on the job Wednesday, Kennedy issued department-wide guidance with definitions for basic gender-related terms.

“This administration is bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government,” Kennedy said in a release. “The prior administration’s policy of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over.” 

These are HHS’s definitions: 

• Sex: A person’s immutable biological classification as either male or female. 

• Female: is a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs (ova). 

• Male: is a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing sperm. 

• Woman: an adult human female. 

• Girl: a minor human female. 

• Man: an adult human male. 

• Boy: a minor human male. 

• Mother: a female parent. 

• Father: a male parent. 

Dorothy Fink, MD, deputy assistant secretary for women’s health, said these distinctions matter in health and medicine. 

“In health care, sex distinctions can influence disease presentation, diagnosis, and treatment differently in females and males,” Fink said in the release. “HHS recognizes that biological differences between females and males require sex-specific practices in medicine and research to ensure optimal health outcomes.” 

The rollout comes in response to an executive order President Donald Trump signed last month declaring the federal government recognizes only two genders, male and female, determined at birth. 

The announcement coincided with HHS updating the Office on Women’s Health website to reflect the administration’s opposition to gender ideology and males competing in women’s sports. 

“The executive order ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’ ensures the next generation of girls has a fair opportunity to compete with the safety, privacy, and equal opportunity they’re entitled to,” former NCAA All-American women’s swimmer Riley Gaines said in a release. “The clarity and decisiveness of the Trump administration sends a strong, clear message to women and girls across the country that we matter.” 

Since Trump signed the women’s sports’ order, states such as Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin have announced they will not let males compete in girls’ high school sports. 

A June 2023 Rasmussen poll found that 71% of Americans think just two genders exist, but that didn’t stop the Biden administration from four years of trying to implement transgender ideology into many facets of daily life. 

Voters resoundingly rejected the Biden-Harris way of governing by electing Trump in a sweeping victory in November.