An organization that advocates for drastic surgery as part of so-called gender transition services is being taken to court by the Federal Trade Commission.
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health is being sued by the FTC in partnership with Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas, with the lawsuit alleging it gave clinicians cover to make false claims to encourage profitable surgeries.
WPATH, which has been referred to as the “leading global transgender healthcare body,” misled parents and children about the safety and necessity of the surgeries it promoted, the FTC said in a news release.
For example, when in 2022 the organization dropped any age limits for surgeries such as breast amputation or penis removal, it did not base the decision on any evidence.
“Today, the FTC filed a lawsuit against WPATH alleging that the organization made false and unsubstantiated claims regarding the necessity, effectiveness and safety of puberty blockers, hormones and sex-change surgeries,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said.
“Children, but especially their parents, must have complete and truthful information when making decisions to purchase medical services. For decades, the FTC has taken action against entities that make deceptive and unsubstantiated health-related claims,” he continued.
“The complaint filed today reflects that same long-standing mandate: when an entity makes a claim about a medical treatment, the claim must be truthful, evidence-based and not misleading,” Ferguson said.
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The FTC alleged that parents and children were not informed of the side effects of the procedures to which children were subjected.
“When an organization provides guidance designed to mislead families about the risks, benefits, or medical consensus behind a treatment, it undermines trust in those responsible for providing medical care,” FTC Commissioner Mark Meador said.
“Our action today is a straightforward application of the law to ensure that families receive accurate, evidence-based information as they seek to make some of the most important healthcare decisions for their children.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton added that “any group that illegally promotes irreversible, life-altering ‘transitioning’ procedures to kids as safe and necessary will face the full force of the law for harming children.”
“We will not allow WPATH or any other organization to illegally promote or perform dangerous ‘transitioning’ procedures on our kids that leave them with permanent trauma and lifelong health consequences.”
The complaint said that WPATH has “deceived many consumers into believing that its treatment guidelines are based on strong evidence derived from scientific methods.”
“WPATH falsely asserts that its recommendations are the result of rigorous scientific procedures and expert consensus, even though WPATH disregarded established guideline‑development standards, ignored the results of its own evidence reviews, and removed age limits in response to external pressure rather than scientific evidence,” the complaint said.
The group “asserts that cross-sex hormones and breast amputations improve children’s mental health even though WPATH’s own leaders privately acknowledged ‘gaps in research,’ lack of ‘research basis,’ and very low quality evidence.”
“WPATH also misleadingly characterizes pediatric medical transition as ‘lifesaving’ and ‘medically necessary,’ despite the absence of evidence,” the complaint said, noting that the group touts surgery for children as young as 8.
The complaint also noted that all of the group’s recommendations are crafted to ensure that insurance companies will be misled into thinking the surgeries are necessary, and will therefore be covered.
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