On Wednesday, July 9, at the Constitution Center in DC, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will present an all day workshop entitled  “The Dangers of “Gender-Affirming Care” for Minors.” Commissioner Andrew Ferguson has framed this workshop as an investigation into "unfair or deceptive trade practices" under Section 5 of the FTC Act.

Ferguson seeks to use his FTC regulatory powers to advance a political agenda, targeting gender affirming care (GAC) through biased workshops like this one, using alliances with hate groups designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center to exacerbate healthcare disparities and contradict evidence-based medicine, prioritizing ideology over consumer protection.

The day exclusively features medical critics, detransitioners, and parental rights activists, omitting mainstream medical perspectives. FTC Senior Policy Advisor Jon Schweppe is the former Policy Director at American Principles Project (APP) who drafted the workshop’s framework. The aim is to justify FTC investigations against healthcare providers offering GAC, alleging they "omit risks" in marketing. This stance contradicts over 20 major medical associations including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics who endorse GAC as medically necessary and life-saving.

The three groups who represent the main organizers, APP (political leverage), Do No Harm (medical façade), and Our Duty USA (grassroots narratives) form a coordinated network that leverages political influence, medical credibility, and grassroots mobilization to ban GAC for minors. All three groups label GAC as "child abuse" or "mutilation," echoing Trump’s executive order rhetoric. They all cite the same contested sources like the WPATH Files and Cass Review to dispute care efficacy. Their integration of lobbying, litigation, and emotional storytelling exploits gaps in healthcare policy, while their shared funding and personnel create a self-reinforcing influence machine.

When GAC is unavailable to transgender youth, the consequences are severe and multifaceted, impacting mental health, physical well-being, socioeconomic stability, and broader societal equity. Some key outcomes based on current evidence include:

• Exacerbated Mental Health Crises: Increased depression and anxiety. Transgender youth denied GAC experience significantly higher rates of psychological distress due to untreated gender dysphoria and societal invalidation.
• Elevated suicide risk: Research shows a 29–56% reduction in suicidality with access to social transition. Conversely, suicide attempts rise by up to 72% in states with GAC bans. Families report hospitalizations following care disruptions.
• Irreversible Physical Harm: Without puberty blockers, youth develop unwanted secondary sex characteristics, which may require invasive surgeries later and often intensifies gender dysphoria.
• Unsafe alternatives: Desperate youth may turn to non-prescribed hormones or unregulated sources, risking health complications like infection or overdose.
• Financial and Geographic Burdens: Out-of-state travel. Families incur costs for transportation, lodging, and lost wages. For example, medications alone can cost  $4,500 every six months without insurance coverage.
• Systemic Healthcare Breakdown: Clinics close due to anti-trans harassment including bomb threats and doxxing, this leads to specialists leaving restrictive states. The result is reduced care access not only for trans youth but for all patients.
• Overcompliance: Fear of penalties for providing care. Potential felony charges in 6 states cause providers to withhold legal services, including referrals or lab tests, beyond legal requirements.
• Legal and Societal Repercussions: Parents aiding care may face child abuse investigations like in Texas, forcing families into secrecy or avoidance of medical systems entirely.
• Erosion of data and advocacy: Research and resources on transgender health diminish due to political hostility, likened to "21st-century book burning".

For more on these statistics, see: Williams Institute: Impact of Ban on Gender-Affirming Care on Transgender Minors; University of Washington: Gender-affirming care bans disrupt mental health of trans youth and their caregivers; Human Rights Watch: “They’re Ruining People’s Lives”: Bans on Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Youth in the US; The Trevor Project: Gender-Affirming Care for Youth

The Metro DC DSA Bodily Autonomy Working Group demands that state and federal governments end the practice of banning life saving care. Puberty blockers allow children time to make decisions about their own care along with health professionals and parents. We transgender adults know far too well the struggles we went through as transgender youth and never want to see others face those horrors of going through a wrong puberty. The fascist government of Donald Trump wants to take us back to a time where patients had no say in their care. Transgender healthcare and reproductive rights are under attack as a means to control us. We are fighting back. Multiple attempts by Congress to ban Medicaid from providing GAC have been so far stopped. City after city stands up to ICE. And a DSA member just won the Dem nomination for Mayor of NYC. Join us in this battle!