CV NEWS FEED // The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a sweeping 400-page report Thursday warning of serious long-term risks associated with subjecting children to so-called “gender-affirming care,” including infertility and psychological harm.
The report found “very weak” scientific evidence supporting the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures on children suffering from gender dysphoria—concluding that these treatments carry significant and often irreversible consequences.
“Despite growing pressure to promote harmful medical interventions for minors, this review makes one thing clear: There is extremely weak evidence that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or surgeries have any benefits in children and adolescents with gender dysphoria,” HHS press secretary Vianca Rodriguez Feliciano told The Daily Signal.
“At the same time, the risks—particularly permanent harm like infertility—are becoming increasingly undeniable.”
HHS stated that the report “highlights a growing body of evidence pointing to significant risks—including irreversible harms such as infertility—while finding very weak evidence of benefit. That weakness has been a consistent finding of systematic reviews of evidence around the world.”
The report’s executive summary emphasized that most cases of gender dysphoria in minors resolve without medical intervention.
“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children—not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” said National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”
The summary divides the report into five sections: background, evidence review, clinical realities, ethical considerations, and psychotherapy. While the report’s authors were not named, HHS said contributors included medical doctors, medical ethicists, and a methodologist.
Thursday’s release follows a January executive order titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which vowed to cut federal funding to institutions performing the harmful treatments on minors.
“Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions,” President Donald Trump said in January. “This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation’s history, and it must end.”
Since the order, several children’s hospitals have suspended the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and trans-related surgeries.
The new HHS report appears to encourage the directive, concluding: “Despite increasing pressure to promote these drastic medical interventions for our nation’s youth, the review makes clear: the science and evidence do not support their use, and the risks cannot be ignored.”
Last June, CatholicVote reported that internal court documents revealed the Biden-Harris HHS had pressured the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to remove age minimums for hormone drugs and surgeries in its guidelines.
Biden’s Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel (born Richard) Levine reportedly urged the organization to revise its standards to align with the administration’s pro-’transgender’ agenda.