President Trump signed an executive order that seeks to end gender-affirming medical treatments for children and teenagers under the age of 19.
The directive, signed Tuesday, was the latest step the Trump administration has taken that examines social protections for the transgender community. On Monday, Trump signed an executive order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military. On his first day in office last week, Trump signed an order recognizing two sexes, male and female, and taking aim at what the order described as gender ideology extremism.
Tuesday's order says the federal government will not "fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support" gender-affirming care for children, as the president claims it leaves them with costly medical bills and regret as they get older, since the procedures may affect their ability to conceive.
The medical care the president is referring to includes the use of puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries.
LGBTQ advocacy and civil rights groups strongly condemned this latest action, saying it targets and discriminates against some of the most vulnerable in the U.S.: trans youth.
Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior counsel and health care strategist for Lambda Legal, said in a statement, "The Trump administration's disdain and animosity towards transgender people and other minorities appears to know no bounds."
Gonzalez-Pagan continued, "In seeking to deny transgender youth the medically sound and well-established health care that they need, this administration could put thousands of vulnerable young lives at risk. It is an outrageous overreach of government power that reveals its cruel absolutism."
Along with Lambda Legal, the Human Rights Campaign lambasted the Trump administration for inserting itself in the personal medical decisions of Americans.
"Everyone deserves the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions for themselves and their families — no matter your income, zip code, or health coverage," said HRC President Kelley Robinson in a statement. "This executive order is a brazen attempt to put politicians in between people and their doctors, preventing them from accessing evidence-based healthcare supported by every major medical association in the country."
Some coverage for pediatric gender-affirming care will be excluded from Medicaid, Medicare and benefits packages for federal and U.S. Postal Service employees.
Trump also condemned health care workers performing the procedures and said, "This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation's history, and it must end."
Additionally, Trump is axing or changing any laws that rely on guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Institutions that receive federal research and education grants must stop providing gender-affirming care for children.
"This broadside condemns transgender youth to extreme and unnecessary pain and suffering, and their parents to agonized futility in caring for their child — all while denying them access to the same medically recommended health care that is readily available to their cisgender peers," Gonzalez-Pagan said of the long-term impact for kids and families.
Though the order primarily focuses on pediatric gender-affirming care, Trump has instructed the federal and states' attorneys general to collaborate on enforcing laws more broadly that are "against female genital mutilation across all American States and Territories."
The secretary of Health and Human Services has 90 days to evaluate research about how to best help children experiencing discomfort with the gender assigned to them at birth.
Agency leaders have 60 days to submit progress reports in relation to the order.
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