NY Times: Biden official pushed to remove age limit on transgender surgeries
Emails show HHS' Rachel Levine and staff urged a group to lift the limits
According to the NY Times, a Biden administration official pushed to have age limits removed from controversial transgender surgery operations.
The revelation comes from unsealed court documents.
"Email excerpts from members of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health recount how staff for Adm. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services and herself a transgender woman, urged them to drop the proposed limits from the group’s guidelines and apparently succeeded," the NY Times reported.
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, known as WPATH, came under fire earlier this year with the release of the WPATH Files by noted journalist Michael Shellenberger in collaboration with his nonprofit group Environmental Progress.
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In April, I reported on the WPATH Files and their impact on a North Carolina lawsuit:
The lawsuit, Voe v. Mansfield, says the law (House Bill 808) violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The plaintiff in the case is a 9-year-old transgender boy from Durham who was given the alias Victor Voe to protect his identity.
Last October, a “statement of interest” opinion was filed in the case by federal officials including United States Attorney Middle District of North Carolina Sandra Hairston and Assistant Attorney General Civil Rights Division Sandra Clarke.
The Voe lawsuit’s claims of harm caused by blocking such surgery and treatments rely heavily on WPATH as a supporting reference.
The leaked WPATH documents and video reportedly raise concerns about the informed consent process in transgender medical treatments. They highlight cases involving minors, including very young children and those with developmental delays, as well as patients with serious mental health conditions.
The files allegedly detail a range of severe complications from these treatments, including sterilization, sexual dysfunction, organ damage, and even fatalities.
According to the report, WPATH members appear to continue advocating for gender-affirming medical interventions despite acknowledging that many patients and parents may not fully comprehend the potential consequences of treatments like puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries.
The WPATH Files also mention North Carolina twice, with one reference involving a gender therapist's comments on hormone therapy for patients with dissociative identity disorder.