U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed the Justice Department to investigate doctors who provide health care to transgender minors, likening gender-affirming surgery for trans patients to “female genital mutilation” in a memo to U.S. attorneys this week.
“I am putting medical practitioners, hospitals, and clinics on notice: In the United States, it is a felony to perform, attempt to perform, or conspire to perform female genital mutilation (‘FGM’) on any person under the age of 18,” Bondi wrote, instructing U.S. attorneys to wield existing laws against FGM to investigate providers who she said “mutilate” transgender youth “under the guise of care.”
As NBC News pointed out, Bondi’s memo does not supersede the law, which allows doctors to continue to treat trans patients in states where gender-affirming care is legal.
Her directive, however, is yet another example of the administration’s attack on transgender rights and protections. In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to prohibit the funding, sponsoring, promotion, assistance or support for gender transition — one of several actions he has taken since his return to office that advocates say further ostracize trans people and violate their rights.
Gender-affirming care encompasses a wide range of treatments, from counseling to hormone replacement therapy to surgeries and other cosmetic procedures. Both transgender and cisgender people can receive gender-affirming care, though a common understanding of the term, especially among the right, is that such care is performed only on trans people. Research has shown that gender-affirming care can have immense benefits for trans people, including for minors, who already face higher rates of self-harm and suicide and are often the target of state-sanctioned discrimination. The administration’s demonization of such care is also at odds with recommendations from major medical associations in the U.S., which have said that gender-affirming care for trans youth can greatly improve their mental health and well-being.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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