“Officials applied this inappropriate pressure by urging for the removal of age limits that expands the pool of children and adolescents recommended for irreversible gender transition surgical procedures.” Pointing to reporting from The New York Times, the committee said in its letter that WPATH published a draft of its recommendations online which included age limits of 14 for hormone drugs, “age 15 for transgender mastectomies, age 16 for transgender breast augmentation and facial surgery, and age 17 for transgender genital surgeries and hysterectomies.” Emails reportedly show that Biden administration officials, including Admiral Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for HHS who is a transgender woman, pressured the group to remove the age limits altogether.
(The Center Square) – A U.S. House Committee has launched a probe of the Biden-Harris administration after reports that the White House pressured the World Professional Association of Transgender Health, a leading professional nonprofit association, to remove the age limits for transgender surgeries and drugs for minors.
“Despite WPATH’s initial minimum age recommendations, Admiral Levine and [Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Sarah] Boateng’s clear, concise instructions to remove age recommendations from SOC-8 led to their ultimate removal, notwithstanding the Biden Administration’s now public statement that it opposes providing such surgeries to minors,” the letter said.
Critics have raised concerns that those surgeries, which do irreversible changes to the body, are often regretted.
Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., chair of the Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, sent a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra opening the probe, which requests all documentation and communication around the alleged “political interference” and whether HHS has pressured other medical groups to alter its guidance.
McClain’s subcommittee and the Federal Workforce Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, also have an investigation into reports that healthcare providers have been fraudulently billing Medicaid for pediatric transgender work.
“We are concerned that HHS officials, acting in their official capacity, inappropriately applied pressure for changes to international pediatric medical standards,” the letter said.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_7eaaa51a-6499-11ef-b07c-d3fc940307fb.html
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