Recently unsealed court documents show that Biden administration health officials successfully urged an international transgender medical nonprofit to remove age restrictions from guidelines for transgender surgery for adolescents.
The documents, first reported by The New York Times, revealed that staff members of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Rachel Levin had been lobbying the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to remove the minimum age requirement altogether, to avoid attempts by conservative lawmakers to enact it into law.
The draft 2021 guidelines suggested age 17 for genital surgery or hysterectomy, 16 for breast implants or facial surgery, 15 for mastectomy, and 14 for hormone treatment. However, the final WPATH 2022 guidelines did not include any age restrictions, according to The New York Times.
Biden criticized on social media after announcing Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter Sunday
Rachel Levin, Under Secretary of Health and Human Services; (Caroline Breman Poole/Getty Images)
As released by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, excerpts from WPATH’s advisory group emails were included in legal documents in a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s ban on sex-reassignment surgery for minors. The suit was filed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of five transgender children and their families, The New York Times reported.
An email from a member of the WPATH guidelines development group described a conversation with Sara Boateng, then chief of staff to Levin, who said she believed an age limit of under 18 could lead to “devastating legislation for transgender care.”
“She wonders if she can remove a certain age,” the excerpt reads.
Transgender athlete complains about lack of sportsmanship from fellow runners after winning girls state title
The treatment of transgender minors has become a major culture war in the US (Alison Diner/AFP via Getty Images)
In another email, Levine wrote that he was “very concerned that imposing age restrictions (primarily for surgery) would impact access to health care for transgender youth, and potentially adults as well.”
“Apparently the situation in the U.S. is so bad that she and the Biden administration were concerned that putting age on the document would make it worse. She asked us to remove the age.”
James Cantor, a psychologist and critic of adolescent sex-reassignment surgery, submitted excerpts of the emails as evidence in a federal lawsuit in Alabama, The Times reported. Emails from Levin’s office were not specifically released.
These emails are Part of his report, It suggests that WPATH’s decisions in formulating its transgender guidelines were influenced by politics, not science.
The Times reported that plaintiffs in the case are trying to block Kanter from testifying.
Women face ‘evisceration of legal womanhood’ under Biden administration’s Title IX changes, experts say
Protesters against Kentucky Senate Bill SB 150, known as the Transgender Health Act, cheer on speakers during a rally on the lawn of the Kentucky State Capitol on March 29, 2023, in Frankfort, Kentucky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Sex-reassignment surgery and treatment for children has become a key issue in the country’s culture wars, with more than a dozen US states having passed laws banning surgery or prescribing hormones to young people who have transitioned gender.
Idaho, North Dakota, Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama have passed laws making it a felony to perform sex-reassignment surgery on a child, while Democratic-leaning states have in recent years enacted “sanctuary” laws that protect medical professionals from punishment for performing sex-reassignment surgery on minors.
Click here to get the FOX News app
Levin’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital by deadline.
