The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has directed healthcare providers to stop using irreversible chemical and surgical interventions as the default treatment for children with gender dysphoria.
HHS warned that previous research that recommended medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria has been debunked and caused more harm than good. “Providers should no longer rely on discredited guidelines that promote these dangerous interventions for children and adolescents based on ideology, not evidence.”
Subsequently, HHS urged healthcare providers to make “immediate updates to treatment protocols for minors with gender dysphoria based on HHS’ comprehensive review.”
The review [pdf] found no evidence that chemical and surgical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria in children were effective.
In contrast, it found “risk of significant harm,” including “common and potentially serious long-term adverse effects.”
Using various studies that have since been debunked, trans activists have falsely claimed that medical interventions help prevent depression, anxiety, and self-harm.
However, more recent studies show that, within two years, children who underwent chemical and surgical interventions reported up to a 25% increase in depression, compared to those who did not transition. “Mental health outcomes included depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, substance use disorder, and body dysmorphic disorder, assessed over two years post-surgery using clinician-verified ICD-10 codes,” says the study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Similarly, the HHS reiterated the lack of evidence to support previous assumptions that irreversible chemical and surgical mutilations helped reduce suicide rates for children with gender dysphoria.
“No independent association between gender dysphoria and suicidality has been found, and there is no evidence that pediatric medical transition reduces the incidence of suicide, which remains, fortunately, very low,” the letter stated. The letter also debunked another leftist narrative that some of the inhumane medical interventions, such as puberty blockers, were totally reversible.
It warned that children who underwent the procedures suffered from life-long conditions such as “ infertility/sterility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, adverse cognitive impacts, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, surgical complications, and regret.”
The review also noted that previous treatment guidelines included recommendations by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) published in its Standards of Care Version 8 (SOC-8) document. However, it warned that SOC-8 was “fraudulent and marked ‘a clear departure from the principles of unbiased, evidence-driven clinical guideline development.’”
The letter also accused WPATH of suppressing systematic reviews of evidence, failing to manage conflicts of interest, and relying on legal and political considerations instead of medical ones. Subsequently, healthcare providers were obligated to avoid serious harm by promptly updating their treatment protocols and training in light of the new information.
“Given your ‘obligation to avoid serious harm’ and the findings of the Review, HHS expects you promptly to make the necessary updates to your treatment protocols and training for care for children and adolescents with gender dysphoria to protect them from these harmful interventions.”
The letter follows a similar directive by the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) to overhauling its guidelines for treating children with gender dysphoria by discouraging blanket medical and surgical interventions in favor of a “holistic assessment.”
According to the NHS, the Tavistock’s Gender Identity Development Service treatment model ignored children’s mental health in favor of invasive medical procedures. Consequently, many children suffering from autism were recommended for medical and chemical mutilation for conditions that could be managed through mental health interventions.
