The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funded research into a litany of possible negative medical outcomes associated with transgenderism while simultaneously promoting sex-change procedures to minors and their families, public records show.
HHS under President Joe Biden has promoted the use of hormone therapy among minors and has been generally supportive of transgenderism, according to departmental documents. While promoting transgender medical interventions, HHS was also funding research into how transgender medical interventions could impact health risks like cancer, recurring headaches, bacterial infections, stunted skeletal development and Alzheimer’s, among other things, federal spending records show.
In April 2022, HHS released a document asserting that “for transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents, early gender-affirming care is crucial to overall health and well-being.” (RELATED: Major Trans Medical Association’s Latest Guidelines Scrubbed From Website After Criticism Over Child Sex Changes)
“Research demonstrates that gender-affirming care improves the mental health and overall well-being of gender diverse children and adolescents,” the document continued. “Gender-affirming care” was defined in the document as encompassing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, “gender-affirming surgeries” and social affirmation.
HHS’ document claimed that puberty blockers were “reversible” and that hormone therapy was “partially reversible.”
The department doubled down in March 2023, releasing a report that argued that “gender-affirming medical care, including both pubertal suppression and hormone therapy, has proven effective in improving the well-being of young transgender and gender-diverse adolescents both during and well after initiation of treatment.”
The World Health Organization in January released a document declining to make health recommendations for trans-identified children, citing a lack of high-quality scientific evidence related to the long-term consequences of child sex changes.
Happy Transgender Day of Visibility from our very own @HHS_ASH!
Admiral Rachel Levine serves as this country’s first openly transgender federal official confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and she is also the first transgender 4-star general in any uniformed service. pic.twitter.com/2za9lhSZIj
— HHS.gov (@HHSGov) March 31, 2023
While promoting medical transitions to American families, HHS was concurrently spending taxpayer dollars on research into the possible health consequences associated with living as a transgender person.
HHS paid Emory University about $200,000 in December 2023 to fill gaps in the scientific literature relating to how gender-affirming hormone therapy, as well as other “transgender and gender diverse-specific experiences,” influence the risk of an individual developing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, a federal grant listing shows.
The University of California San Francisco revived about $170,00 from HHS in September 2023 to study how “gender-affirming sex hormones” administered to children during early puberty impact skeletal development, according to grant records. The grant description notes that past research has found that “transfeminine youth” may have lower bone mass, which can make fractures more likely.
Another gap in the scientific literature the HHS sought to bridge through its research funding concerned the risk of breast cancer among transgender individuals, grant records show.
The department allocated just over $210,000 to the Medical College of Wisconsin in July 2023 to improve breast cancer screening practices for transgender people taking female sex hormones, according to a federal grant description.
“Many [transgender] persons take gender-affirming hormone therapy, usually estrogen or testosterone based, to alter their physical appearance and improve their psychological health,” per the grant description. “Lifetime exposure to estrogen is a well-established risk factor for breast cancer.”
HHS also paid researchers to assess how estrogen use among transgender people with breast cancer impacts their prognosis.
HHS approved over $535,000 for a study spanning December 2021 to November 2024 using mice to determine the impact of estrogen therapy on breast cancer treatment outcomes, grant records show.
Another HHS-funded study, this time spanning November 2021 to October 2024, allocated about $440,000 to the University of Alabama to investigate the risk of vaginal bacterial infections among transgender women taking testosterone, according to federal grant records.
One of the most recent studies funded by HHS regarding the possible adverse impact of transgender medical treatment on health outcomes has to do with how hormone therapy impacts the prevalence of headaches in adolescents, grant records show.
HHS wasn’t the only federal agency to fund research into how transgenderism impacts medical risk.
The Department of Defense (DOD) gave the University of California San Diego $1.1 million in July 2023 to study prostate cancer risk and outcomes among “transgender and gender-nonconforming adults,” according to a federal grant listing. Past research has found a link between sex hormones and prostate cancer.
HHS and DOD did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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