Last night, Donald Trump took a victory lap on his first year in office. He didn't even give himself a day to rest on his laurels.
This morning, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr announced a rule change that will deliver on another key campaign promise. The new rule will prevent any hospital or provider that performs pediatric sex change therapies from receiving Medicare and Medicaid benefits at all. This would put these providers in a catastrophic financial position, although it might have other repercussions.
"We're done with junk science," Kennedy declared earlier today:
🚨 BREAKING: @SecKennedy announces "six decisive actions" to protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation:
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 18, 2025
"So-called 'gender affirming care' has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people... we’re done with junk science, driven by… pic.twitter.com/q4iWbmSNEj
"So-called 'gender affirming care' has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people... we’re done with junk science, driven by ideological pursuits, not of well-being of children."
Yes, indeed, you had better believe I voted for this. The medical establishment, along with the education establishment and the entertainment industry, has taken dysphoria (and in many cases, autism) and turned it into its own industry of mutilating and sterilizing children while creating life-long dependencies on health-cate providers in dealing with the aftermath.
The New York Times calls this "gender-related care for minors," of course:
If finalized, the proposed new rules, announced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a news conference Thursday morning, would effectively shut down hospitals that failed to comply. Medicare and Medicaid account for nearly 45 percent of spending on hospital care, according to KFF, a nonprofit health policy research group.
It follows other efforts by the administration to pull back from or eliminate policies that recognize gender identities beyond being born male or female.
The new rules come one day after a divided House of Representatives voted to approve legislation that would criminalize gender transition treatments for minors and would subject providers to up to 10 years in federal prison. The House is expected to pass another bill Thursday that would bar Medicaid payments for gender-related treatments for minors. The two bills have little chance of passing in the Senate but showed how far the ultraconservative Republican majority was willing to go to deliver on President Trump’s campaign promise to end such medical treatment.
But the proposed rules go much farther: by trying to force hospitals nationwide to stop providing the treatments altogether. The proposed rules for Medicare and Medicaid will be followed by a 60-day public comment period and will most likely be subject to legal challenges before going into effect.
I have three words for that last point: Bring. It. On. The medical establishment may try to take this to court, but that will only expose the hideous practice for what it is. There is no reliable data that justifies the use of hormonal and/or surgical interventions for cases of pediatric gender dysphoria. All of the data points in the other direction, especially on long-term outcomes. There is literally no science at all involved in pediatric sex-change therapies and surgeries, and that has been very clear for at least the last 21 months.
If these providers file lawsuits, HHS will get the opportunity to force discovery – including any and all internal discussions about the lack of scientific evidence in support of these "therapies." I'd bet that HHS attorneys are champing at the bit for that opportunity to delve into the discussions within the pediatric sex-change industry and to expose it for what it is: an exploitation of children for cash and virtue signaling.
This is as despicable a practice as female genital mutilation (FGM), and it needs to be shut down just as vigorously to the extent that children become its victims. If adults choose to mutilate themselves in this fashion, that's their choice, but the grooming of children into these programs and therapies needs to stop immediately.
Good for Trump and RFK Jr for delivering on this campaign promise, and the step from Congress is a nice surprise. Eventually, private insurance companies would have shut this down as detransitioner lawsuits overwhelm malpractice policies. It's good to see HHS step forward to accelerate the process, and save countless children from being groomed into mutilation and sterilization in the time it would take for the private sector to catch up.
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