Trump’s HHS casts doubt on evidence supporting gender-affirming care for youth

[Lori Dee]

Trump's HHS casts doubt on evidence supporting gender-affirming care for youth
Link to Full Article
The Hill - Brooke Migdon
05/01/25 1:58 PM ET

The Trump administration questioned the evidence supporting gender-affirming health care for youth in a lengthy review published Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that could further upend the nation's transgender care landscape.

The roughly 400-page, unsigned review states there is a "lack of robust evidence" supporting interventions such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and the rare surgeries to treat gender dysphoria in minors.

The document contradicts guidance from major medical organizations including the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the American Medical Association, which opposes statewide bans on gender-affirming care for youth.

The names of the new review's contributors would not initially be made public, HHS said Thursday, "in order to help maintain the integrity of this process."

In a statement, Susan J. Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), said her organization is "deeply alarmed" by the report, which she said "misrepresents the current medical consensus and fails to reflect the realities of pediatric care."

"Patients, their families, and their physicians—not politicians or government officials —should be the ones to make decisions together about what care is best for them based on evidence-based, age-appropriate care," Kressly said.

-------------------------------

Cass Report 2.0

[Lori Dee]

The names of the new review's contributors would not initially be made public, HHS said Thursday, "in order to help maintain the integrity of this process."

And yet, publication of any report in any respectable journal requires the authors and contributors to be listed.