Republicans in the Texas state legislature, led by former Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Chief of Staff Brian Harrison, are requesting that a deputy HHS secretary provide them with the Department’s legal definition of “woman.”
President Joe Biden created a Gender Policy Council in March 2021 with the goals of reviewing the Trump administration’s approach to Title IX and addressing gender inequity in the U.S. and globally. Since then, he has ordered bans on discrimination in education based on gender identity, which could lead to male students using female bathrooms, and is preparing to require states to permit the prescription of puberty blockers and other hormones to minor patients.
However, the Republicans note, the Biden administration has not publicly stated how they define the term “woman” under federal law. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Send Letter To Biden Administration Accusing Democrats Of Compromising Progress In Women’s Sports)
“Over the past few months, there has been much sudden discussion and confusion on how to define a woman,” the 15 Republicans wrote to Deputy Assistant Secretary for Women’s Health Dorothy Fink in a letter obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller. “Since the term ‘woman’ is also found in numerous regulations, grants, conditions of participation, Medicaid 1115 waivers, and other documents codifying legally binding arrangements between HHS and the State of Texas, it is essential that there be no ambiguity of this term.”
Read the letter here:
(DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) — … by Henry Rodgers
Conservatives have pressed prominent Biden administration officials and nominees to define the word “woman” on several occasions. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson declined to do so when pressed on the topic by Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, with Jackson claiming that she was unqualified to answer the question because she is not a biologist. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra also struggled to answer the question during an April hearing.
“The woke left demands the denial of objective reality, rendering concepts foundational to all humankind meaningless. Acceptance is not enough, they require praise of this insanity. Counterintuitively, since the term ‘woman’ is used in countless laws designed to help women, the ambiguity they’re creating will likely result in increased harm to biological women. This absurdity must stop,” Harrison said in a statement to the Daily Caller.
A spokesperson for HHS did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment on how the Department legally defines men and women.
