Ranking Member Cassidy Launches Investigation into Medical Organizations Promoting Puberty Blockers, Gender Transition Procedures for Children Against Scientific Data
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, launched an investigation into major medical organizations promoting the use of puberty blockers and irreversible gender transition surgeries for children. This comes following recently published research showing “weak” scientific evidence regarding the safety of children undergoing gender transition procedures.
“These organizations are advocating for hormonal therapy and irreversible surgery to remove the breasts and reproductive organs of children when the medical research shows there is ‘not a reliable evidence base upon which to make clinical decisions’ for these procedures,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Americans need to know that treatment guidelines are based on, and supported by, science and not influenced by extreme ideology.”
In 2020, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service commissioned the Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People, commonly known as the Cass Review, to understand the reasons for the rapid rise in children and adolescents seeking gender transition procedures and to develop recommendations to ensure the safety of children who undergo these procedures.
In April 2024, the final Cass Review Report was published, and found that there is “weak” scientific evidence on the safety of children using puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones, and that there is no clear evidence that gender transitioning in childhood has any positive effect on mental health. The report also found that the dramatic increase in minors seeking these procedures has been caused by a rapid increase in rates of anxiety and depression, especially among teenage girls.
Despite the lack of evidence on these procedures, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Endocrine Society have continued to advocate for the use of puberty blockers and other gender treatments for children. Specifically, WPATH’s most recent Standard of Care Guidelines recommends eliminating any age restrictions when it comes to children taking puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. Additionally, official AAP guidelines advocate for prescribing puberty blockers to, and performing irreversible surgeries on, minor children. As leading medical organizations on gender treatments, their guidelines influence nearly all other medical organizations that publish similar guidelines.
In light of the Cass Review, the American College of Pediatrics led 17 other health organizations, as well as dozens of individual health care experts, last June in calling on WPATH, AAP, and the Endocrine Society to “immediately stop the promotion of social affirmation, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for children and adolescents.”
Read the full letter to WPATH here.
Read the full letter to AAP here.
Read the full letter to the Endocrine Society here.
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