Trump administration cuts treatment for minor transgender people

Starting October 13, the Trump administration will significantly reduce federal Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care for minors in the United States. This policy change means that young transgender individuals will no longer receive federal funding for crucial treatments such as hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and gender confirmation surgeries through the Medicaid program.

President Donald Trump announced the decision on Truth Social, stating, "We will not pay for our innocent children to undergo these barbaric operations and treatments that cause unimaginable and irreversible harm to their young bodies." This move reflects a broader pattern of Trump's administration restricting the rights of transgender individuals during his second term.

Earlier in his presidency, Trump signed two executive orders that defined gender as an immutable biological classification of male or female, asserting that it cannot be changed later in life. Another decree prohibited transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military. Data from a 2024 Harvard study and a 2022 Reuters report indicate that only a few hundred minors undergo gender confirmation surgery annually in the U.S., with the majority being breast surgeries for older teenagers. Genital surgeries are reportedly very rare among minors.

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We will not pay for our innocent children to undergo these barbaric operations and treatments that cause unimaginable and irreversible harm to their young bodies.