RFK Jr. To Cut Funding For Hospitals Performing Sex Changes On Minors
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday announced a sweeping policy shift that would terminate federal support for gender-transition medical interventions for minors, a major health care move under President Donald J. Trump’s second-term administration.
The policy targets the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures performed on individuals under the age of 18. Administration officials said the change reflects the conclusion that such interventions fail to meet accepted standards of care, according to reports.
Kennedy signed a peer-reviewed declaration asserting that medical procedures intended to alter a minor’s sex characteristics are neither safe nor effective, the department said. Under the new framework, health care providers who perform these interventions on minors could be deemed noncompliant with federal patient-safety requirements, exposing hospitals and practitioners to potential enforcement actions.
As part of the initiative, the Department of Health and Human Services directed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] to begin rulemaking that would bar hospitals offering these procedures from participating in Medicare and Medicaid.
Because nearly all U.S. hospitals rely on federal reimbursement, the proposal could dramatically curtail access to such procedures nationwide. Kennedy also took aim at major medical associations that have endorsed the treatments, accusing them of prioritizing ideology over evidence-based medicine.
“Today, we are taking six decisive actions guided by gold standard science and the week one executive order from President Trump to protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation,” RFK Jr. said during a Thursday afternoon press conference.
“This is not medicine. It is malpractice,” he added, accusing the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics of abandoning evidence-based care and failing to protect vulnerable children.
“On my watch, HHS will stand for radical transparency and informed consent,” Kennedy said. “We follow the evidence. We employ gold standard science. We honor the moral obligation to do no harm. There is divine worth in every person. It shines most brightly in our children that was commanded us to protect them.”
Kennedy pointed to a report released by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health finding that medical interventions designed to alter a child’s biological sex — including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures — carry effects that are “significant, long term, and too often ignored or inadequately tracked.”
The November report updated a prior HHS review released in May that examined existing evidence and best practices for treating children diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Several medical organizations criticized the earlier report, alleging it mischaracterized the medical consensus and noting the absence of identified authors, Fox News reported.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz has also forcefully condemned gender-altering procedures for minors, outlining his objections in an op-ed published this week by the Washington Post.
Oz wrote that comprehensive reviews have found the evidence supporting the claimed benefits of such treatments to be “remarkably weak,” while the risks remain too “substantial” to justify their use on children.
“America’s children aren’t lab mice,” Oz wrote. “They deserve quality care backed by sound evidence and should not be conscripted as test subjects in risky experiments that cause irreversible harm.”
He further criticized medical professionals who, in his view, have ignored these findings or dismissed concerns as “bigotry.” Oz argued that clinicians seeking to affirm a child’s “true identity” often bypass less invasive treatments and overlook broader psychological factors.
“Proponents of the current approach demand that we ‘believe trans kids’ and insist that blockers, hormones and surgeries are the most effective way to save gender-confused children from suicide,” Oz wrote. “If they’re wrong — as studies increasingly suggest — then ‘gender-affirming care’ for kids will have earned its place in the medical malfeasance hall of shame, right next to lobotomies.”
“These proposed rules aren’t about scoring political points. They’re about grounding our health policy in science — and protecting our kids,” Oz concluded.