By: The Editorial Boarad – wsj.com – May 7, 2025

An HHS report rebuts the false ‘consensus’ on treating minors.

The 409-page study from the Department of Health and Human Services reviews the evidence about gender dysphoria among children and the various treatment options. It amounts to a rebuke of the political and medical conformity that has developed around gender identity, including radical treatments that are opposed by parents.

The evidence reveals “deep uncertainty about the purported benefits” of medical interventions like puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone treatments and surgeries, says the HHS report. The treatments carry risk that include infertility, sexual dysfunction, “adverse cognitive impacts,” and psychiatric disorders.

Yet treatment for gender dysphoria among minors today is “characterized by a child-led process in which comprehensive mental health assessments are often minimized,” and puberty blockers and surgeries are promoted, says the HHS report. Medical associations have created “a perception that there is professional consensus,” it adds.

But that “consensus” is largely driven by groups like the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. The Biden Justice Department cited WPATH’s guidelines in its challenge to Tennessee’s law banning gender transition treatment for minors, a case now at the Supreme Court. As Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall showed in these pages last year, some WPATH authors obscured the lack of evidence behind the guidelines.

The HHS study is consistent with the United Kingdom’s 2024 Cass Review that found little evidence that puberty blockers and the like improve the mental well-being of children. Other European countries, including Sweden and Finland, have also backed away from such medical interventions.

The HHS report doesn’t make policy recommendations or advocate a ban on any treatment. It also acknowledges the limited evidence on harm caused by gender treatments. But it points out the potential usefulness of psychotherapy for children struggling with their gender identity.

Sad to say, political ideology has infected much U.S. medical practice, no matter the scientific evidence. The HHS report is an antidote.

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Source: The U.S. Catches Up on Gender Medicine – WSJ