Trump administration, 4 states sue WPATH over sex-change claims for minors 

The Federal Trade Commission and four states filed a lawsuit against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health last week, alleging it made deceptive and baseless claims regarding the “necessity, safety and efficacy” of medical sex-change interventions for children.

“Medical providers conveyed WPATH’s deceptive and unsubstantiated claims to assure parents of the benefits of medical transition services for their children,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a post on X. “This enabled medical providers to make permanent, irreversible changes to the bodies of these children, often at enormous physical, personal and financial cost.”

‘Profit at the expense of children and their parents’ 

For years, WPATH has misled parents and children about the medical consensus, safety and results of sex-change interventions involving drugs and surgeries for minors – in direct violation of the FTC Act, according to the agency’s release.

“Children, but especially their parents, must have complete and truthful information when making decisions to purchase medical services,” Ferguson said in a statement. “For decades, the FTC has taken action against entities that make deceptive and unsubstantiated health-related claims.”

Medical sex-change interventions, especially on minors, have exploded over the past two decades. Between 2017 and 2021 alone, the number of children diagnosed annually with gender dysphoria tripled from 15,000 to 42,000, according to the lawsuit. As those numbers rose, WPATH raked in millions of dollars in profit.

“But this profit has come at the expense of children and their parents,” the lawsuit argues. “To advance its members’ financial interests, WPATH has made false, misleading or unsubstantiated statements … regarding medical consensus and medical necessity, as well as the safety and efficacy of medical transition.”

Clinicians across the country cite WPATH’s publications and standards to convince parents to medically transition their children. In 2022, WPATH, without citing any medical evidence, removed all mention of age for the surgical removal of genitalia in its “Standards of Care” for “sex-trait-related dissatisfaction or distress,” according to the press release.

“Many, if not most, sales of pediatric medical transition services would not happen without WPATH,” the lawsuit states.

Additionally, no medical evidence supports WPATH’s claim that the sex-transition of minors reduces the risk of suicide, despite the common phrase doctors employ to coerce parents: “Would you rather have a live daughter or a dead son?”

“Doctors and hospitals used junk science from WPATH to justify selling gender-transition procedures to kids and their parents,” Vice President JD Vance said in an X post. “Huge props to Andrew and his team for taking an important step in our efforts to end this outrageous practice.”

WPATH hides lifelong harms of transition experiments 

WPATH also allegedly failed to document the real side effects of medical sex-change interventions, and many patients who have returned to their biological sex, often called detransitioners, still suffer from chemical or surgical mutilation.

“Today, my chest area is still weak and strange-feeling, and I have limited range of motion in my arms,” Clementine Breen testifies in the lawsuit. “My voice is deep. I have been told I might not be able to bear a child because of the puberty blocker and five years of testosterone use.”

Another detransitioner, who wished to remain anonymous, said her vocal cords are permanently damaged from taking testosterone.

“I lost the ability to scream normally when I started taking testosterone,” she said, according to the lawsuit. “I still cannot scream, and I have recurring nightmares of not being able to scream when I need to.”

WPATH responded to the lawsuit by saying the Trump administration “has abused the authority of its agencies,” and that its standards are “evidence-informed.”

Four states join FTC in lawsuit 

The FTC filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas after a 2-0 approval vote.

“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 said in joining the suit. “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.”

Alaska, Iowa and Nebraska also joined the litigation.

“Patients and their families have been deceived into believing the organization is an authoritative medical body when, in truth, its recommendations are based on politics and ideology. Parents and children deserve better,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement.

Author and social advocate J.K. Rowling, who has publicly condemned the transgender movement, especially for harming women and children, celebrated the legal action.

“Taking down WPATH would be the gender-critical Battle of Stalingrad,” she said on X.