HHS Declaration: Sex-Rejecting Procedures Deemed Malpractice—A Victory for Child Protection
A Landmark HHS Declaration
On December 18, 2025, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a monumental declaration designating "sex-rejecting procedures" (puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries) for minors as substandard care that fails to meet professional standards of medicine. Citing extensive irreversible harms, lack of high-quality evidence, and violation of ethical principles like "first do no harm," the declaration enables HHS to exclude providers engaging in these procedures from participation in federal programs, including Medicaid.
Read the full official declaration.
Key Elements of the Declaration
- Substandard Care Finding: These procedures do not meet accepted professional standards due to risks outweighing benefits and low-quality evidence supporting them.
- Harms to Children: These sex-rejecting treatments (euphemistically “gender-affirming care”) expose children to irreversible damage, including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, cardiovascular problems, and other irreversible physiological harms.
- Funding Implications: This enables the regulatory groundwork to exclude hospitals who engage in these abusive treatments from Medicaid and other federal programs and to cut off federal funding for these interventions in minors nationwide.
- Medical Associations Called Out: “The AAP peddled the lie that sex-rejecting pediatric procedures could be good for children who suffered from gender dysphoria. They betrayed an estimate 300,000 youth conditioned to believe that sex could be changed,” said Secretary Kennedy. “This is not medicine—it is medical malpractice.”
- FDA Taking Action: The FDA will be issuing warning letters to 12 manufacturers of breast binders who market these medical devices to gender-dysphoric children and reversing the Biden admin’s efforts to include gender dysphoria as a “disability.”
CPRC's Role
CPRC has led this fight for years, collaborating with numerous state Attorney General offices to defend child protective bans on these treatments and highlighting the very harms and evidence gaps now recognized federally.
“For years, CPRC has argued in courtrooms and statehouses that these experimental procedures inflict permanent, irreversible harm on children,” said Vernadette Broyles, CPRC President and Chief Counsel. “Today’s action by HHS to defund these practices is a monumental validation of that truth and a critical step toward ending the institutional capture that has put ideology before the safety of our children.”
Why This Matters Now
By deeming these procedures experimental, harmful, and substandard, HHS opens the door to funding restrictions, pressuring states and providers to end these mistreatments while protecting vulnerable children.
Join the Momentum
- Donate Now: Support CPRC's efforts to defend and expand these protections. Donate now.
- Share the News: Amplify this breakthrough on X and Facebook.
- Stay Informed: Follow us on X @CPRC_Official and @RealVernadetteB for updates on implementation and next steps.
Our Commitment
CPRC remains dedicated to ensuring no child faces irreversible harm from unproven interventions. With supporters like you, we're putting real protections in place.