The U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) is facing a new inquiry about taxpayer dollars potentially being used to promote transgender policies to children, including life-altering gender transitions using puberty blockers or surgery.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, recently sent a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra calling for all documents and communications about federal funds being used to pursue gender-related medicine for children.
“The Biden Administration appears to be encouraging any child, who does not conform to perceptions of masculine or feminine stereotypes, to alter his or her body through potentially irreversible medical or surgical intervention. Instead of funding these life-altering drugs and procedures, our government should be promoting policies to protect vulnerable children—who cannot consent. In light of these concerns, I am requesting documents and information to understand whether, and to what extent, taxpayer dollars are being used to promote and/or fund these potentially harmful practices,” Mace wrote.
As CBN News has reported, the number of new gender dysphoria cases and children receiving puberty blockers have dramatically increased in the U.S. in recent years. While other western countries now warn about the dangers of gender transitions for minors, President Joe Biden and the U.S. government have gone all-in on touting transgender treatments for children with its Transgender Mandate.
A recent HHS-proposed rule would force medical practitioners and hospitals to perform these procedures on children even where the medical provider objects on moral and religious grounds.
In her letter, Mace told Becerra his department has promoted “unscientific and harmful practices” and “life-altering changes to young children” without FDA approval.
“Under your leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services has taken numerous steps to promote unscientific and harmful practices that reinforce sex stereotypes and, in the worst cases, promote life-altering changes to young children,” she said.
“HHS, under the guise of ‘gender-affirming care,’ now promotes medical interventions such as drugs designed to block puberty, opposite-sex hormones to transition children—both of which do not have FDA approval for use in children’s gender care—and even surgical interventions to remove or alter the gender specific anatomy. HHS also falsely promotes some of these interventions as ‘reversible’ or ‘partially reversible’ despite potential, serious long-term physical and mental health risks, complications, and regret,” the South Carolina congresswoman’s letter continued.
“The American medical institutions simply do not have enough data to understand outcomes. Children who suffer from mental health conditions are least likely to engage in sound decision making which is where parental control should intervene … It is imperative that the American people understand HHS’s role and the use of federal taxpayer money to promote a radical gender ideology that is harming children in our country,” Mace wrote.
Mace’s letter specifically requests all documents and communications concerning any federally funded research, drugs, or surgeries related to any person or entity performing any gender-related medicine on children by Nov. 8.
CBN News contacted the HHS for comment on this story. We will post it here if we hear back.
As CBN News reported late last month, the United Kingdom is reportedly retreating from transgender treatments for minors, including new guidance revealing a stunning evolution.
A Telegraph story detailed how England’s National Health Service is embracing a radically different idea than the U.S., revealing that childhood transgender identity generally doesn’t extend into adulthood.
The outlet encouraged doctors in its draft guidance to recognize such ideology could simply be a “transient phase,” and young, pre-pubescent children should be treated based on “evidence that, in most cases, gender incongruence does not persist into adolescence.”
The document also addressed concerns over puberty-blocking drugs, which critics allege have little to no research shedding light on potential ramifications. Based on the text, the U.K. will move to closely monitor these drugs in research settings.
“In view of the uncertainties surrounding their use, consideration should be given to the rapid establishment of the necessary research infrastructure to prospectively enroll young people being considered for puberty-blocking drugs into a formal research programme, with adequate follow-up into adulthood,” the draft document reads.
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