GOP moves to defund hospitals that perform sex-change procedures on minors

FIRST ON FOX: A new House GOP bill would block federal funding for hospitals that perform sex-change surgeries on minors.

The legislation, led by Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and backed by interest groups Do No Harm and Genspect, specifically targets funding that medical centers receive through a program aimed at fostering new children’s physicians.

“We’re standing for basic medical ethics and recognizing those who have been silenced and betrayed by a system that put ideology ahead of genuine care,” Crenshaw told Fox News Digital. “Medicine should be grounded in truth and healing—not in false promises that cause lasting harm.”

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Tree Crane, 17, poses for a photograph following a rally where hundreds gathered in support of transgender youth at the Utah State Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 in Salt Lake City. (Rick Bowmer)

The bill would require re-authorization of the Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education Payment Program through fiscal year (FY) 2030.

The legislation includes a provision that “no payment may be made…to a children’s hospital for a fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 2026) if, at any point during the preceding fiscal year, such hospital furnished specific procedures…and drugs to an individual under 18 years of age.”

Those specifics are defined as being “for the purpose of changing the body of such individual to no longer correspond to the individual’s sex.”

Do No Harm Medical Director Dr. Kurt Miceli lauded the legislation to Fox News Digital.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the issue of transgender boys in girls’ sports “deeply unfair.” (Chris duMond/Shutterstock)

“The American taxpayer should not fund hospitals that perform unscientific sex-change procedures on minors. Representative Crenshaw’s bill is important to help protect our children by ensuring federally funded graduate medical education programs do not engage in these harmful practices,” he said.

The bill is being introduced on what conservatives have dubbed “DeTrans Awareness Day.”

Permissions for transgender medical care or procedures for minors have been a lightening rod in the ongoing culture war between the right and left.

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The issue of transgender minors’ participation in school sports has also seen heated debate, with some Democrats even speaking out against their party for obliterating dissent on the topic.

Notably, California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently said on his new podcast that allowing transgender men to play in women’s sports is “deeply unfair.”

“I think it’s an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness,” he said to conservative activist Charlie Kirk.