According to unreleased court documents, senior health officials in the Biden administration have successfully pressured a group of international medical experts to lift age limit guidelines for sex-reassignment surgery, including for sex-change procedures for minors.
Adm. Rachel Levin, undersecretary of health for the Department of Health and Human Services, was concerned that the Global Association of Transgender Health Professionals’ draft guidelines in late 2021 would make it harder for transgender youth in the U.S. to access surgery, according to excerpts of emails between WPATH members. Documents filed in Alabama court.
WPATH guidelines recommend a minimum age of 14 for hormone treatment, 15 for mastectomy, 16 for breast implants, and 17 for genital surgery.
“We sent that document to Admiral Levin… She[s] “She loved SOC-8, but was very concerned that putting age restrictions (primarily on surgery) would impact access to health care for transgender youth, and possibly adults as well,” WPATH members wrote in one of the internal emails released by psychologist Dr. James Cantor as part of a lawsuit challenging an Alabama law that bans certain treatments and procedures related to gender transition.
“Apparently the situation in America is terrible. [Levine] “The Biden administration was concerned that including age on the documents would make things worse,” the health group member continued.
“She asked us to remove them,” the email continued, referring to Levin, who identifies as a transgender woman.
In another excerpt, a WPATH member recounts a conversation with Levin’s chief of staff, Sara Boateng, in which she says “she wondered whether a specific age could be removed from the proposed guidelines.”
WPATH appears to have caved to pressure from the Biden administration.
“[W]I heard your story [Levine’s] “We appreciate your comments regarding the minimum age criteria for adolescents receiving transgender medical care and the potential adverse effects of these minimum ages as recommendations in the United States…we have therefore made changes to SOC 8 in this regard,” an email apparently sent to Levin from a WPATH member said.
In his filing, Kanter said that after a pressure campaign, the international group “brought in violation of its own procedures, caved in and removed the language, despite committee members’ wishes to maintain the age limit.”
The 8th edition of the WPATH Standards of Care, released in September 2022, stated that there was no minimum age restriction for transgender surgery. The New York Times.
The Post has reached out to HHS and WPATH for comment.
