The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for launching an investigation into its guidance on sex-change procedures for minors.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began probing in January whether the AAP and the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) made “unsubstantiated representations or engaged in unfair practices” in their guidance on treating minors with gender dysphoria.
“Using the threat of investigation or prosecution against an organization in order to silence speech the government does not like is retaliation, prohibited by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” the AAP argues in its complaint. “Moreover, issuing an overbroad subpoena as a tool to compel disclosures in such a retaliatory action violates the Fourth Amendment.”
The AAP issued a policy in 2018 stating puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, as well as surgeries like double mastectomies, on a “case-by-case basis.” It reaffirmed the policy in 2023.
The organization did not reevaluate its position after the American Society of Plastic Surgeons released a position statement Feb. 3 recommending delaying gender-related surgeries until after at least 19 years of age. Yet the American Medical Association agreed that surgeries should be “deferred to adulthood.”
AAP pressured WPATH to remove age minimums for sex-change surgeries from its Standards of Care Version 8 guidance before publication (SOC-8), emails reported by the Daily Caller News Foundation revealed in 2024.
Court records unsealed in 2024 also revealed Biden administration officials pressured WPATH to remove age minimums to align with legislative priorities. WPATH suppressed publication of evidence reviews that undermined their recommendations, court records showed.
Documents the FTC requested WPATH produce included “all Communications with Professional Medical Organizations related to SOC 8,” according to a motion to quash the investigation.
The FTC did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
AAP’s lawsuit states gender-affirming care “refers to a broad range of steps that may be used to affirm a patient’s gender.”
“These steps can range from social acceptance and mental health care to medical treatments, such as hormone treatments and puberty blockers, and legal affirmation,” it states. “In very rare cases, GAC could also include genderaffirming surgeries, when determined to be developmentally and medically appropriate for an individual patient, in consultation with family and medical and mental health providers.”
In December, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced proposed rules that would prohibit Medicaid dollars from funding sex-change procedures for minors and restrict participating hospitals from performing the procedures on minors. President Donald Trump signed executive orders during his first month in office defining “sex” as either “male or female” and restricting federal funding from promoting child sex changes.
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