The Federal Trade Commission and four attorneys general filed a groundbreaking lawsuit Wednesday, aiming to hold the World Professional Association for Transgender Health accountable for allegedly deceptive trade practices, an action that may dismantle the child gender mutilation pipeline.
WPATH may not be a household acronym, but this activist group masquerading as a health authority has hoodwinked the medical establishment into enabling one of the worst medical scandals of our time.
As the lawsuit explains, WPATH claims that experimental transgender medical interventions such as “puberty blockers,” cross-sex hormones, and surgeries—which all attempt to make boys appear to be girls or vice versa—are “medically necessary” to prevent suicide.
WPATH allegedly hides the fact that there is no evidence to back up the claim that girls or boys who express discomfort with their sex characteristics will commit suicide without such interventions. (A Department of Health and Human Services peer-reviewed study concluded that there was “extremely weak evidence” for any benefit from these interventions.)
WPATH also allegedly falsely claims that its “standards of care” represent scientifically based expert consensus. Finally, it allegedly hides the fact that these interventions cause serious side effects.
These deceptive practices promote the sex-rejecting procedures euphemistically described as “gender-affirming care,” causing great harm, according to the lawsuit. WPATH presents itself as the expert, and medical authorities, insurance companies, and parents have cited it as such.
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WPATH’s influence has created a booming medical industry. The lawsuit notes that the first U.S. pediatric medical transition clinic opened in 2007, and by 2015, the number of such clinics grew to 41. Between 2017 and 2021, the number of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria (the painful and persistent identifying with the gender opposite one’s biological sex) nearly tripled, from 15,000 to 42,000.
Notably, WPATH’s latest “Standards of Care” edition, published in 2022, removed age limitations for controversial procedures, including breast amputation and penis removal. The lawsuit quotes one WPATH leader who admitted to “struggl[ing] to find any sound evidence-based argument(s) underpinning” the change.
The lawsuit cites numerous side effects from the transgender interventions WPATH supports. The side effects of “puberty blockers”—drugs that law enforcement uses to chemically castrate sex offenders—include hot flashes, lethargy, and cognitive problems. The side effects of cross-sex hormones include mood disturbances, vocal pain, pelvic pain, clitoral discomfort, vaginal pain, and erectile pain. The side effects of breast amputations, often euphemistically described as “top surgery,” include the inability to breastfeed, nerve damage, and necrosis of the nipples.
“Children, but especially their parents, must have complete and truthful information when making decisions to purchase medical services,” FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson said in a statement on the lawsuit. “For decades, the FTC has taken action against entities that make deceptive and unsubstantiated health-related claims. 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.”
In the lawsuit, the FTC—joined by Attorneys General Cori Mills (Alaska), Brenna Bird (Iowa), Michael Hilgers (Nebraska), and Ken Paxton (Texas)—alleges three major violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. Plaintiffs claim WPATH violated the act by engaging in deceptive claims regarding the efficacy of pediatric medical transition, by misrepresenting the nature of the “Standards of Care,” and by failing to disclose side effects. The lawsuit also claims these deceptive practices violated consumer protection laws in each of the four states.
For its part, WPATH claimed that the Trump administration “abused” its authority by aiming to “interfere with Americans’ rights to seek and obtain the healthcare that should be decided between a patient and their physician.” WPATH noted the Federal Trade Commission’s previous request for information, which a federal judge struck down.
The pro-transgender group panned the lawsuit as an “end-around,” describing it as “baseless.” WPATH further claimed that the Federal Trade Commission is not a medical provider and “has no place interfering” with medical decision-making.
James Boasberg, chief judge for the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, blocked the Federal Trade Commission from requiring WPATH to hand over documents, ruling that the commission’s order involved retaliation for WPATH’s speech, protected by the First Amendment. This order does not apply to the new lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas.
Contrary to WPATH’s claims, the lawsuit does not aim to interfere with patients’ right to health care, but with WPATH’s own alleged misrepresentations in advocating for sex-rejecting procedures on minors.
If WPATH does not want to face accusations about systemically deceiving Americans about transgender “medicine,” perhaps it should reconsider systematically deceiving Americans about transgender “medicine.”
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