The Trump administration and several states on June 17 sued the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), a global physician group that promotes child transgender surgeries and hormonal treatments to children.
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the states said the organization’s guidance on gender transition surgeries, which does not mention any minimum ages, was not based on medical evidence.
“Children, but especially their parents, must have complete and truthful information when making decisions to purchase medical services,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement.
“Any group that illegally promotes irreversible, life-altering ‘transitioning’ procedures to kids as safe and necessary will face the full force of the law for harming children,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton added. “We will not allow WPATH or any other organization to illegally promote or perform dangerous ‘transitioning’ procedures on our kids that leave them with permanent trauma and lifelong health consequences.”
WPATH did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for WPATH told The Epoch Times in an email in February that the organization aimed to create “cautious, ethical, and evidence-informed guidelines that support a process including individualized assessments, not a one-size-fits all approach.”
The spokesperson added: “The federal government’s continued attacks on gender-affirming care not only mischaracterize this commitment but serve as a canary in the coal mine for the broader medical community and what is potentially to come for patients across disciplines. That is why we are making our position clear—patients deserve the highest level of care from their medical providers and the Standards of Care are designed to promote this.”
The FTC had earlier in the year demanded documents from WPATH as officials probed whether it had “made, or assisted others in making, false or unsubstantiated representations or engaged in unfair practices in connection with the marketing and advertising of Pediatric Gender Dysphoria Treatment” in violation of federal law that bars people from engaging in deceptive practices affecting commerce and disseminating false advertisements.
In response to a lawsuit from WPATH, a federal judge in May entered a preliminary injunction ordering the FTC not to implement or enforce its investigative demand against the group.
Parents and children have told the FTC that the children received transition drugs and surgeries and experienced harms including chronic pain and loss of fertility. The parents and children said that “they were never informed of significant risks or long-term consequences” of the procedures, which include breast and penis removal, a senior FTC official told reporters on a call.