The United States Department of Health and Services (HHS) published a report on Thursday that exposes concerns about the use of medicines and surgeries that alter the lives of minors suffering from gender dysphoria.
The HHS report indicates that this model, sometimes called “gender affirmation attention”, includes irreversible medical interventions in children who do not present any physical health problem. The treatments are designed to feminize boys and masculinize girls, and surgeries make the child’s body more closely resemble that of the opposite sex.
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“The systematic reviews of the evidence have revealed a deep uncertainty about the alleged benefits of these interventions,” says the prologue of the Executive Summary of the Report of 400 pages.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, signed an executive order during his second week in the position he instructed to the HHS, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to prepare a report on this subject. The order also instructed all hospitals that receive federal funds to stop the practice of administering medicines or making surgeries to children to treat gender dysphoria.
According to the report, “these interventions entail the risk of significant damage,” which may include infertility, sexual dysfunction, underdeveloped bone mass, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders and adverse cognitive effects, among other complications.
The report indicates that the alleged benefit of these interventions is to “improve mental health results” for children who identify as transgender and want certain physical changes. However, according to the report, the systematic reviews of patients “have not found credible evidence that they lead to a significant improvement in mental health.”
“When medical interventions have unnecessary and disproportionate risks of damage, medical care providers should refuse to offer them even when they are preferred, requested or required by patients,” write the authors of the report.
The report concludes that “there is no evidence that the pediatric medical transition reduces the incidence of suicide, which fortunately remains very low.” For this reason, the authors criticize the organizations that present these interventions as “medically necessary” or “lifeguard”, arguing that such characterizations are not backed by evidence.
Although the authors point out that “the principle of autonomy” is important in medicine, they add that there is no “right to receive interventions that are not beneficial” and that autonomy “does not annul the professional and ethical obligation of clinicians to protect and promote the health of their patients.”
The report also addresses the issue of “repentance”, particularly the so -called “detransitioners” that seek to reverse the medical interventions that altered their body. He states that the “repentance” rate is unknown and that more evidence is needed, but adds: “That some patients report a deep repentance after undergoing invasive medical interventions and that they change life is clearly important.”
According to the report, there is little evidence about the benefits of psychotherapeutic interventions in the treatment of children with gender dysphoria. However, there is evidence that supports psychotherapeutic interventions for children with other mental health problems, and there is no evidence that psychotherapeutic interventions for gender dysphoria cause damage.
Mary Rice Hasson, director of the person and identity project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told CNA – Ewtn News English agency – that the report is “extremely well done” and provides a “deep and impartial analysis” of current medical literature related to the treatment of children with gender dysphoria.
Hasson said that this guide can serve as a resource for parents, doctors and legislators who “seek to help minors with ‘gender dysphoria’.”
“Both evidence and ethics point to the best solution to treat children with identity anguish: psychotherapy and time,” he said. “Let children be children, and grow without damage caused by drastic and disabling interventions.”
Jill Simons, a pediatrician and executive director of the American College of Pediatricans, told CNA that the Trump administration “should be applauded” for her work so far in this issue, but added that “there is still much to do” and called the pediatricians to “face organizations … that they still promote … these (procedures).”
Simons also noted that the report found no evidence that these medical interventions reduce the risk of suicide and warned that some doctors make that statement “to scare parents.”
“Parents should know that this is simply true,” he said.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a Pro-LGBT group, criticized the HHS report.
“Trans people are who we are,” said Jay Brown, HRC staff manager, In a statement. “We were born like this. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair and just as living a good life.”
Trump’s executive order to stop medications and surgeries that alter the genre in children has been the subject of numerous demands.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Tyler Arnold
Tyler Arnold is a reporter of the National Catholic Register. He previously worked at The Center Square and has published in various media, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative and The Federalist.