Featured Image Credit: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics, LGBTQ,
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics, LGBTQ,
House Republicans this week announced advanced measures aimed at removing access to gender-affirming care for young transgender people.
Already since Donald Trump returned to office back in January, his right-wing administration vowed that the federal government would recognise 'only two genders' going forward, banned trans women from competing in female sports, and issued bans on new passports for individuals who wished to define their gender as 'X'.
The 79-year-old also signed an executive order just weeks into his term, declaring that the US government would not 'fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called "transition" of a child from one sex to another'.
Now, new rules and regulations were announced this week by Trump's team, that will effectively see gender-affirming care for transgender youngsters banned, even in states where it is still legal.
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The unnerving news was broken by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr on Thursday (18 Dec), along with Medicaid leader, Dr Mehmet Oz, both of whom spoke at a press conference at the headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington D.C.
Leading the discussion Kennedy complained: "So-called gender affirming care has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people. This is not medicine. It is malpractice."
He added: "Under my leadership, and answering President Trump’s call to action, the federal government will do everything in its power to stop unsafe, irreversible practices that put our children at risk.
"Our children deserve better, and we are delivering on that promise."
The blanket ban for children and young adults takes the form of two new restrictions, one of which disallows doctors and hospital staff from receiving federal Medicaid (healthcare cover for low-income Americans) reimbursement for gender-affirming care in cases involving people under 18.
Not only does this include surgery, but hormone therapies and puberty blockers.
The second element of the ban will see Medicaid funding blocked for any services at hospitals that provide paediatric gender-affirming care.
Given that almost every medical centre across the country takes Medicaid, however, it's likely this latter rule will have wide-ranging effect.
Another bill introduced by Marjorie Taylor-Greene aims to introduce the criminal prosecution of doctors and other healthcare workers who provide such care. It was passed by Congress on Wednesday.
During the same conference, Food and Drug Administration head Dr Marty Makary announced that the agency would be send warning letters to businesses that manufacture and advertise breast binders for young people.
Unsurprisingly, the latest move has sparked outrage from pro-trans organisations, as well as medical providers and parents of trans children.
President of the LGBTQ+ rights groups Human Rights Campaign, Kelley Robinson warned the LA Times: "Should this bill become law, doctors could face the threat of prison simply for doing their jobs and providing the care they were trained to deliver.
"Parents could be criminalised and even imprisoned for supporting their children and ensuring they receive prescribed medication."
Los Angeles LGBT Center chief executive Joe Hollendoner agreed, adding that the proposed changes 'cruelly target transgender youth' and will 'destabilise safety-net hospitals'.
"Hospitals should never be forced to choose between providing lifesaving care to transgender young people and delivering critical services like cancer treatment to other patients," he explained. "Yet this is exactly the division and harm these rules are designed to create."
Gavin Newsom - the California governor and one of Trump's key political opponents also vowed in response to the news: "As the Trump administration abandons the well-being of LGBTQ youth, California is putting more resources toward providing vulnerable kids with the mental health support they deserve."