WASHINGTON D.C. — Independent Women stands firmly behind today’s decisive action by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to carry out President Trump’s executive order ending the surgical and chemical mutilation of minors—procedures that have exposed children to irreversible physical and psychological harm and have never been supported by credible long-term medical evidence or research. 

The proposed regulatory actions mark a long-overdue course correction in federal health policy. By moving to bar hospitals from performing sex-rejecting procedures on minors as a condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid, HHS is drawing a clear line: taxpayer dollars should never subsidize practices that permanently damage children under the guise of medical care. 

Additional proposed regulatory actions by federal agencies include: 

  • The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will release a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing to bar hospitals from performing sex-rejecting procedures on children under age 18 as a condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid programs.
  • CMS will release an additional notice of proposed rulemaking to prohibit federal Medicaid funding for sex-rejecting procedures on children under age 18.
  • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will issue warning letters to 12 manufacturers and retailers for illegal marketing of breast binders to children for the purposes of treating gender dysphoria.
  • The Office for Civil Rights’ newly proposed revision to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 will clarify the definitions of “disability” and “individual with a disability” exclude “gender dysphoria” not resulting from physical impairments.

This announcement comes on the heels of the explosive report HHS released last month detailing how dangerous these practices are and have been on children. The report doubled down on what Independent Women has been sounding the alarm on for years: giving cross-sex hormones, surgical procedures, and puberty blockers to children has been based on zero long-term evidence and the medicalization of gender-confused children is the largest medical scandal of our time.

Left: Chloe Cole speaking at HHS press conference on protecting children from life-altering medical procedures.

Right: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“After years of failure to protect children and to retain the trust of Americans, the public health apparatus is finally cracking down on so-called gender affirming care, which constitutes some of the worst abuses committed by medicine,” said Neeraja Deshpande, Independent Women policy analyst. “Seeing a united front from leaders across HHS agencies only confirms what most Americans have known all along: mutilating children in the name of ideology has no place in medicine.”

“I applaud HHS’s proposed regulatory actions as a lawful and necessary exercise of the agency’s authority to protect America’s children,” said Beth Parlato, senior legal advisor for Independent Women. “The proposed rule making appropriately recognizes the government’s requirement and moral obligation to safeguard children from irreversible medical interventions that cause life long harm.”

LEFT: Prisha Mosley, Independent Women ambassador and detransitioner

RIGHT: Mosley joined by other detransitioners for the FTC workshop, “The Dangers of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Minors”

Prisha Mosley, Independent Women detransitioner and ambassador said, “Today’s action by the Trump administration is a necessary step to protect children from irreversible medical interventions they cannot fully understand or consent to. The effects of my medical transition are more apparent than ever now that my womanly body collides with the ill-informed advice and prescriptions I received from health care professionals as a child. No young person should ever again be subjected to irreversible interventions based on guesswork.”

“At 14, I hadn’t even learned algebra in high school yet, but I was old enough to choose to have healthy parts of my body electively amputated. I trusted the adults who were supposed to protect me. Instead, they sold me a dream that turned out to be a nightmare. That’s not healthcare, it’s fraud. My own experience shows the lifelong impact these decisions can have, and no child or family should be placed on that path,” said Claire Abernathy, Independent Women detransitioner and ambassador. 

“It is essential that we protect the healthy development of our young people—especially when it comes to irreversible, high-risk medical interventions. When I began sharing my experience with pediatric “gender medicine” in 2022, I knew we would eventually look back on the practice with shame. It is a fact that our youth deserve the chance to grow into adults with both grounded minds and intact bodies. Resilience is key,” said Soren Aldaco, Independent Women detransitioner and ambassador. 

“It is very encouraging to see the Trump administration acknowledge the long-term harm caused by chemical and surgical interventions and recognize that children and families have been severely misled. We must make sure no child is steered down the same path I was. Children deserve protection, not experimentation,” said Luke Healy, Independent Women detransitioner and ambassador.

Since 2022, Independent Women’s Features (IW Features), the grassroots storytelling and original journalism arm of Independent Women, has worked to expose the irreversible harm of so-called “gender affirming care” through its “Identity Crisis: Real Stories About Escaping Gender Ideology” series. Reporting from these stories has been used in previous HHS reports.

From “top surgery,” nipples peeling off, clitoral growth, trapped milk ducts, and hairy bodies, Identity Crisis documentaries bring to light the graphic stories of young adults now reckoning with the physical and emotional scars of gender ideology:

By restoring evidence and child welfare to federal health policy, the Trump administration is taking meaningful steps to end one of the most profound medical failures of our time. 

Independent Women will continue working alongside policymakers, parents, and medical experts to ensure that no child is subjected to irreversible medical harm—and that truth, science, and common sense once again guide our nation’s healthcare system.

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