U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed the Department of Justice to investigate clinicians providing gender-affirming care to minors, aligning with an executive order President Trump signed in January to restrict federal funding and support for such care.
Six notes:
1. In an April 22 memo, Ms. Bondi directed Justice Department employees to “enforce rigorous protections and hold accountable those who prey on vulnerable children and their parents.” U.S. attorneys should use existing laws against female genital mutilation to prosecute all offenses “to the fullest extent possible,” the memo reads.
“I am putting medical practitioners, hospitals and clinics on notice,” Ms. Bondi wrote. “In the United States, it is a felony to perform, attempt to perform, or conspire to perform female genital mutilation on any person under the age of 18. That crime carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years per count.”
2. Drug companies that promote the use of certain drugs for gender-related care may also face additional scrutiny. The Consumer Protection Branch within the Civil Division of the department was directed to investigate manufacturers and distributors “engaged in misbranding by making false claims about the on- or off-label use of puberty blockers, sex hormones or any other drug used to facilitate a child’s so-called ‘gender-transition.'”
3. The memo does not change any federal laws, but rather directs the department to place more resources and energy into investigating and prosecuting alleged violations of existing laws to align with the Trump administration’s broader efforts to curb access to gender-affirming care.
“The bulk of this is just showing how they’re going to use resources and investigate,” Robin Meril, an assistant professor of constitutional law at Willamette University in Oregon, told NBC News. “It’s meant to have a chilling effect on physicians providing access to necessary care, fearing that it will be characterized as chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”
4. A week after taking office, President Trump signed an executive order to restrict federal funding – including education grants and research dollars – to hospitals and medical schools that provide gender-affirming care to individuals under the age of 19.
The order, which has been temporarily blocked by at least two federal judges, also directed the department to work with Congress on draft legislation that would allow individuals who received gender-affirming care as minors to sue their parents and medical professionals.
5. At least 26 states have laws in place that restrict transition-related care for minors. While demand for gender-affirming treatments among transgender youth hasn’t been extensively studied, a recent study found less than 0.1% of adolescents with private insurance in the U.S. who are transgender or gender diverse are prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapy.
6. Leading medical associations, including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics, support gender-affirming care as a treatment for minors with gender dysphoria.