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The House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into allegations that the Biden administration exerted undue pressure on a global medical organization to alter its guidelines on transgender surgeries for minors. The probe centers on claims that officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Rachel Levine, sought to influence the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to remove age restrictions from its recommendations.
Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., chair of the subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, initiated the inquiry following a New York Times report. The report suggests that Biden administration officials were concerned that the existing age limits for transgender medical procedures could bolster political opposition to such treatments. According to the original standards, mastectomies should be performed at age 15, genital operations at age 17, and transgender hormone therapy at age 14. It has been claimed that these suggestions were dropped from the final WPATH guidelines.
In her letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, McClain expressed concern that the pressure from HHS officials might have been politically motivated and inappropriate. “The Biden Administration’s advocacy for expanding the pool of vulnerable children subjected to life-altering procedures they may later regret is reprehensible,” McClain wrote. “Emails indicating that this advocacy was done for political advantage – possibly to satisfy extremist elements of its base – is even more outrageous.”
The White House has responded by asserting that it supports gender-affirming care for minors as part of a continuum of care, emphasizing the role of parents and doctors in these decisions. The Biden administration has stated it does not support gender-affirming surgery for minors, though it continues to back gender-affirming care within a broader framework.
The investigation highlights the ongoing contentious debate over transgender medical care for minors, a topic that remains deeply polarizing in American politics.