The Justice Department announced on Wednesday that it has summoned over 20 doctors and clinics linked to providing sex change procedures to minors. This investigation is aimed at healthcare fraud and making false statements, among other concerns.
Attorney General Pamela Bondy remarked that medical professionals and organizations involved in serving children under what she termed “distorted ideological conditions” will be held accountable. This comes as the FBI began investigations into three children’s hospitals suspected of committing genital mutilation on minors.
The DOJ has not disclosed which specific doctors or clinics received subpoenas. A note published by Bondi in April outlined the department’s intention to investigate and prosecute those providing sex change treatments to minors. She also directed U.S. attorneys to probe all cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) labeled under “gender-affirming care,” emphasizing the prosecution of FGM crimes to the fullest extent.
Bondi has tasked the consumer protection division within the DOJ to examine manufacturers and distributors for misleading claims related to adolescent blockers, sex hormones, or other medications used for sexual transition in children.
On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order prohibiting the federal government from funding, promoting, or supporting sexual transition procedures for minors. He also stressed the enforcement of laws that limit or prohibit these practices.
The executive order criticized the increasing number of health professionals allegedly causing harm and sterilizing children based on unfounded claims that adults can alter a child’s sex through irreversible medical interventions. The order asserted that this troubling trend must come to an end.
In a related note, the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld Tennessee’s law that bans certain transgender medical treatments for youth, ruling that it does not constitute discrimination.
