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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order (EO) banning the chemical and surgical mutilation of children and protecting kids from the most extreme measures of radical gender ideology, which has long held out the empty promise to vulnerable young people of gender transitioning through so-called “gender-affirming care.”

“Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions. This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation’s history, and it must end,” begins the stunning order from the Oval Office.

“Countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding,” the EO notes. “Moreover, these vulnerable youths’ medical bills may rise throughout their lifetimes, as they are often trapped with lifelong medical complications, a losing war with their own bodies, and, tragically, sterilization.”

“Accordingly, it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.”

The remarkable directive from President Trump calls for “ending reliance” on what it refers to as “junk science,” explaining that “the blatant harm done to children by chemical and surgical mutilation cloaks itself in medical necessity, spurred by guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which lacks scientific integrity.”

In light of the scientific concerns with the WPATH guidance, government agencies “shall rescind or amend all policies that rely on WPATH guidance.”

The EO also specifies that:

The phrase “chemical and surgical mutilation” means the use of puberty blockers, including GnRH agonists and other interventions, to delay the onset or progression of normally timed puberty in an individual who does not identify as his or her sex; the use of sex hormones, such as androgen blockers, estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone, to align an individual’s physical appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex; and surgical procedures that attempt to transform an individual’s physical appearance to align with an identity that differs from his or her sex or that attempt to alter or remove an individual’s sexual organs to minimize or destroy their natural biological functions.  This phrase sometimes is referred to as “gender affirming care.”

“The order will restore scientific integrity to medical guidance for children suffering from body and sex dysphoria” and “rejects the scientifically baseless WPATH “affirmation” models and calls on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to release new guidelines,” the Independent Women’s Forum (IDF) noted in a statement applauding the move by the Trump White House. “It seeks to withhold funding from entities involved in chemical and surgical mutilation of minors and makes it easier for victims of gender related mutilation to seek justice.”

“In a refreshing return to sanity, the federal government is showing its commitment to protecting children from radical gender ideology that has devastated countless lives. Not a single dollar should be spent to facilitate or push vulnerable kids towards experimental, often irreversible, drugs and surgeries,” said Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Matt Sharp, director of the Center for Public Policy, in a statement.

“The president’s order affirms that the federal government is standing with detransitioners and families hurt by gender transition drugs and surgeries. That includes supporting a legal remedy for those who have suffered at the hands of doctors who have pushed junk science on vulnerable kids,” Sharp said. “And it directs the Department of Justice to work to ensure that states like California and Minnesota can’t strip parents in other states of their parental rights for safeguarding their children from life-altering hormones and irreversible surgeries. We applaud President Trump for fulfilling his promise to America’s families and taking these critical steps to protect children from harmful, experimental, and often irreversible medical procedures.”