US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday, 28th January, restricting “chemical and surgical” sex change procedures for minors, citing concerns about irreversible medical interventions and lifelong complications.
The order, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” aims to end what Trump calls a dangerous trend of medical professionals performing procedures that can lead to sterilization, and lifelong medical complications for youths.
The executive order Trump signed states, “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.”
The order also directs federally-run insurance programs, including TRICARE for military families and Medicaid, to exclude coverage for these procedures and urges the Department of Justice to pursue legal cases against such practices.
In some states across the United States, Medicaid covers gender-affirming care. The new executive order signed by Trump states that the practice would end, and targets hospitals and universities that receive federal money and provide the care.
However, several medical groups in the US, American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics support access to the care.
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said “It is deeply unfair to play politics with people’s lives and strip transgender young people, their families and their providers of the freedom to make necessary health care decisions,” reported Associated Press.
