The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed Wednesday that HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. sent out a letter to health care providers and medical boards urging them to update treatment protocols for children with gender dysphoria based on an HHS review released at the beginning of this month. The review in question condemns current scientific findings on treating gender dysphoria and suggests conversion therapy to treat trans kids instead of gender affirmation.

Kennedy, in the letter, warns medical providers against relying on scientific evidence when it comes to treating gender dysphoria. He claims that, despite years of scientific research showing a correlation between gender affirming medical care and improved quality of life, there is little evidence supporting the notion that gender affirming care performed on minors is beneficial.

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The letter calls upon physicians to uphold their oath to “do no harm” by following the guidelines of the HHS report instead of the consensus among major medical professional associations.

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Also this week, Dr. Mehmet Oz, in his official capacity as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), sent letters to hospitals providing care to transgender youth demanding they hand over data on their quality standards and finances within the next 30 days.

Oz also cited the unsigned report as factual evidence of what he describes in a statement as “irreversible, high-risk procedures being conducted on vulnerable children, often at taxpayer expense.” Medicare and Medicaid are government-funded health care programs.

Oz goes on to write that “CMS believes that these interventions were initiated with an underdeveloped body of evidence, lack reliable evidence of benefits for minors, and are now known to carry serious risks of long-term and irreparable harm.”

These claims are bold to say the least, and challenge evidence-based findings from major medical institutions, including but not limited to the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, and the American Psychiatric Association.

The 400-page review referenced by both Oz and Kennedy states that there is a lack of robust evidence supporting treatments for gender dysphoria, such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries performed on minors. It is important to note that gender affirming surgery is very rarely performed on minors and gender affirming genital surgery is not performed on minors.

The review advocates for a greater reliance on psychotherapy to “cure” gender dysphoria. Many are pointing out that the language is a veiled way of advocating for conversion therapy.

“The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents. It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change,” Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, explains.

Sinead Murano Kinney, a health policy analyst at Advocates for Trans Equality, also went on record to say the report is meant to “justify dangerous practices which amount to conversion therapy.” And calls the review “a willful distortion of medical evidence intended to stoke fear about a field of safe and effective medicine that has existed for decades.”

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