The Federal Trade Commission and four state attorneys general have sued a leading professional organization of gender-affirming care clinicians for making false claims about selling medical services to children.
The lawsuit against the World Association of Transgender Health Professionals, filed Wednesday in federal court in Texas, is part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to end gender-affirming care for minors.
The FTC and the attorneys general of Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas allege in the lawsuit that WPATH misled children and parents about the benefits and risks of surgeries and drugs and “led many consumers to believe that its treatment guidelines were based on strong evidence derived from scientific methods.”
WPATH did not immediately issue a statement in response.
The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Texas. The district is a court with a conservative reputation, and the Trump administration has recently focused its legal efforts on gender-affirming care. At least one hospital, NYU Langone Hospital, received a grand jury subpoena from the same school district.
New subpoenas indicate Justice Department has opened criminal investigation into gender-affirming care
The allegations echo positions expressed by administration officials nearly a year ago at an FTC workshop focused on policing gender-affirming care. The complaint alleges that the clinicians regularly make statements to parents such as, “Would you rather have a dead son than a living daughter?” At the time, FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoake suggested that this type of statement could constitute fraud or deception. Proponents of gender-affirming care argue that these claims amount to pedantry, since research shows gender-affirming care is associated with improved mental health.
Last year, the Justice Department and FTC sent subpoenas to clinics and pharmaceutical companies that provide gender-affirming services and products. WPATH received a subpoena, but filed a lawsuit seeking to block the investigation and won on First Amendment grounds last month. D.C. District Court Judge James Boasberg found “extensive evidence of hostility and flimsy justifications lacking evidentiary support” behind the FTC’s investigation, echoing rulings by several other federal judges across the country who have largely blocked federal investigations into the provision of gender-affirming care.
The new lawsuit cites two controversial pieces of evidence supporting claims that WPATH misled parents and children about the safety and effectiveness of gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery. One is the Cath study, commissioned by the UK Department of Health, and the other is the Trump administration’s own study into gender dysphoria, a direct result of an executive order aimed at ending the provision of this care to minors.
