A new decree signed by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday prohibits government support for gender-altering treatments for individuals under the age of 19. The decree effectively bans the use of puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries. This comes after Trump previously banned the use of transgender individuals in the military.
In the decree, Trump describes the use of puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgical interventions as “chemical and surgical mutilation.” He claims that “countless children” will soon regret being “mutilated” and will never be able to “bear their own children or nourish them through breastfeeding.”
Surgical interventions are, however, rare among transgender children and adolescents, as they typically opt for puberty blockers instead. These medications alleviate the onset of physical developments during puberty. The effects of these medications can be reversed by stopping the treatment. Decisions on potential surgeries are thus delayed until adulthood. Hormones are typically not used before the age of 16.
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers “mutilation” a forced practice, but in the case of transgender youth, the medical interventions are not forced and have a proven benefit in studies, according to the WHO.
A Harvard University study found that between 2018 and 2022, a total of 926 patients between the ages of 8 and 17 received puberty blockers and 1,927 individuals in this age range received hormone therapy. This means that less than 0.1% of youth received such treatment. No one under the age of 12 received puberty blockers, according to the study. Numbers on gender-altering surgeries, which are not common in this age group, were not available.
The LGBTQ organization Human Rights Campaign criticized Trump’s decree. “Everyone deserves the freedom to make personal decisions about their healthcare, regardless of income, zip code, or health insurance” said Kelley Robinson, President of the Human Rights Campaign. “This executive order is a three-pronged attempt to insert politicians between people and their doctors and deny them access to evidence-based healthcare, supported by all major medical associations in the country.”
It is “deeply unfair to make politics out of people’s lives and take away the freedom of young transgender people, their families and their doctors to make necessary decisions in healthcare” Robinson said. “Questions about this care should be answered by doctors, not politicians and the decisions should be made by families, doctors and patients.