A federal appeals court on Friday sided with the Trump administration in its effort to subpoena doctors and clinics that provide sex change drugs and surgeries to minors.
Last year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics that allegedly provide sex change drugs and surgeries to minors as part of its investigation into “healthcare fraud, false statements, and more.” The effort, until now, has been stymied by federal courts, the Associated Press reported.
However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a 2-1 decision reversing a lower court ruling halting a subpoena against a telemedicine clinic called “QueerDoc” and sending the case back to a lower court for more consideration.
The panel wrote that the long-term risks of sex change drugs for minors are “uncertain,” and a president of the United States has the authority to direct the DOJ to pursue enforcement of laws in alignment with his policies.
“Every President has law enforcement priorities, just as every President has signature policies (often, the former are components of the latter),” wrote Judge Carlos Bea, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush.
The majority, which was joined by Judge Daniel Bress, a Trump nominee, also expressed that sex changes for minors is “an unsettled scientific debate,” saying that the Trump administration is able to justify its opposition on ethical and philosophical grounds.
The subpoena is seeking QueerDoc’s personnel files, billing documents, communications with drug manufacturers, and records of patients who were prescribed puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones, among other information, according to the AP report.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Adrien Leavitt, who represents the Washington state-based QueerDoc, said they plan to continue fighting the subpoena in district court. QueerDoc has argued the subpoena is too broad and burdensome, while the DOJ contends the company could be misleading people about sex change drugs.
“We’re ready to continue defending one of the most fundamental principles of healthcare: every patient’s right to confidential medical care,” Leavitt said in a statement to the outlet.
President Trump signed an executive order eschewing “gender identity” and reaffirming the biological reality of male and female. He also signed an executive order seeking to end the federal funding of sex change for minors. The latter order directs the DOJ to “prioritize investigations” into violations of a drug safety law by “any entity that may be misleading the public about long-term side effects of chemical and surgical mutilation.”
READ MORE: Federal Trade Commission to Explore ‘Deceptive Trade Practices’ in Sex Changes for Minors
The side effects of sex change drugs and procedures can be severe, including irreversible mutilation and infertility. Some of these so-called treatments include double mastectomies (the removal of healthy breasts), female and male genital mutilation and removal, facial feminization and masculinization, hormone treatments, and puberty blockers that can cause chemical sterilization. Puberty blockers can also have long-term impacts on bone growth, bone density, and growth spurts, according to Mayo Clinic.
Many people who have undergone these sex change drugs and procedures as minors and later decided to reverse course, called detransitioners, have begun speaking out about the irreversible physical damage and mental torment they have experienced.
The top-down push for minors to obtain sex-mutilating drugs and surgeries under the misleading moniker “gender-affirming care” has been promulgated by academia, large hospitals, and major medical organizations. The Biden administration aggressively pushed for minors to have access to sex change drugs and surgeries.
Transgender activists frequently claim such sex-mutilating drugs and procedures for confused minors help reduce suicides and improve mental health — dubious claims which increasingly appear untrue as more studies and data come to light.
These concerns are compounded by reports of politics influencing the world of gender medicine. For example, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) — a leading “transgender” healthcare organization that advocates for no age limits on sex changes and whose guidance influences major hospitals and health organizations — has been caught in several public scandals including a leaked internal meeting in which an endocrinologist admitted that discussing long-term potential for infertility with a 14-year-old is like “talking to a blank wall,” and a pressure campaign from the Biden administration to remove age requirements for sex-change surgeries.
Other research has indicated that a majority of children who are confused about their sex grow out of that feeling by the time they become adults. European countries that pushed sex change drugs and surgeries for minors before the United States are notably reversing course over concerns about long-term impacts.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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