Overview

• HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed healthcare providers, risk managers and state medical boards to update treatment protocols after a department review found very weak evidence for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries in minors with gender dysphoria.
• The guidance tells providers to disregard the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s Standards of Care, labeling them unscientific and potentially harmful to children.
• The American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics have rejected the new guidelines and affirmed that gender-affirming care can provide essential medical benefits and improve well-being for transgender youth.
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced an oversight initiative to review hospitals performing gender transition surgeries on minors over concerns of lifelong harm and scant evidence.
• Senator Bill Cassidy praised the move, warning that irreversible gender transition procedures for children contradict scientific data and calling for stricter accountability in pediatric care.