Trump administration officials have issued what they call the “final demand” to six prominent medical organizations to provide evidence to support hormonal or surgical interventions for children struggling with gender dysphoria.
The letters, sent to the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and four other organizations Wednesday afternoon, mark an escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to hold medical institutions accountable for supporting what federal health officials call “sex-rejecting procedures on minors.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said via press release that medical organizations setting the standards for caring for children “have a responsibility to explain the evidence behind those standards.”
“HHS has asked these organizations for clear answers about their current positions, the evidence supporting their guidance, and whether they intend to change it,” Kennedy said. “Parents and clinicians deserve transparency, and we expect these organizations to provide it.”
The letters come within three weeks of the 2026 midterm elections as Republicans are attempting to maintain their slim majorities in the House and Senate. Opposing transgender medicine for minors was a key plank in President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.
Since winning the 2024 election, Trump and his health officials have taken a hard-line approach to preventing medical professionals caring for minors from providing gender transition interventions, ranging from puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to invasive surgical procedures such as mastectomies or vaginoplasties.
Both the British National Health Service and the U.S. HHS conducted systematic reviews of existing evidence on gender medicine for minors in recent years, and each report found the existing literature does not support invasive and irreversible medical interventions to treat gender dysphoria.
In December 2025, Kennedy announced efforts to block Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for medical facilities and physicians who perform such procedures on children and to prohibit federal Medicaid funding for them. Although these efforts have been subject to intense litigation, at least six major U.S. hospitals have closed their youth gender medicine clinics as of last month.
Several HHS officials, including Kennedy, praised the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in early February for disavowing gender-related surgical interventions such as mastectomies, facial reconstruction, and genital surgeries for minors.
Shortly thereafter, HHS officials requested a clear position from several leading medical organizations on gender transition medical procedures for minors and whether they planned to revise their standards. Wednesday’s letters renewed the requests and require a response within 10 business days.
The press release associated with the letters describes them as the Trump administration’s “final demand” to the six leading organizations, but the letters do not outline consequences for noncompliance with the administration’s deadline.
“Silence will speak for itself as a choice to place commitments to radical ideology ahead of evidence-based medicine,” each of the letters reads.
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In addition to the AMA and the AAP, the other four organizations to receive letters on Wednesday are the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the Endocrine Society, and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.
The Washington Examiner contacted the organizations with a request for comment on the letter.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
