Accusations of Biden admin 'interference' in transgender surgery guidelines for minors probed by House GOP

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FIRST ON FOX: A House Oversight Committee panel is probing accusations that the Biden administration pressured a global medical recommendations body to drop age limit guidelines for transgender care.

"The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating allegations of political interference by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in third-party medical organization recommendations," a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra sent on Tuesday read.

"We are concerned that HHS officials, acting in their official capacity, inappropriately applied pressure for changes to international pediatric medical standards."

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Rep. Lisa McClain's House Oversight subcommittee is probing accusations that senior Health and Human Services official Adm. Rachel Levine's staff pressed medical experts to lower transgender surgery age recommendations. (Getty Images)

The letter was written by Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., chair of the subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services. She cited a June 2024 New York Times report that the administration pressed the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to remove its age limit recommendations for transgender youth surgeries because it "could fuel growing political opposition to such treatments."

The pressure campaign was led by the staff of HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman, according to the report.

"Officials applied this inappropriate pressure by urging for the removal of age limits that expands the pool of children and adolescents recommended for irreversible gender transition surgical procedures. The Committee requests documents and information from HHS to assist our investigation of this matter," McClain wrote.

"The Biden Administration’s advocacy for expanding the pool of vulnerable children subjected to life-altering procedures they may later regret is reprehensible. Emails indicating that this advocacy was done for political advantage – possibly to satisfy extremist elements of its base – is even more outrageous."

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The letter was addressed to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

The topic of transgender medical care, particularly for minors, has been a political lightening rod in recent years.

Backlash over the Times report prompted the White House to say it did not support gender-affirming surgery for minors. 

However, the White House later altered its response after backlash from progressive groups, telling 19th News that such surgeries "should be limited to adults," but, "We continue to support gender-affirming care for minors, which represents a continuum of care, and respect the role of parents, families, and doctors in these decisions."

The 2021 medical guidelines at the heart of McClain’s Tuesday letter initially recommended lowering the acceptable age for transgender hormone therapy to 14, the age for mastectomies to 15 and 17 years for genital or hysterectomy procedures.

However, those limits were dropped from the final version of those recommendations, according to the Times.

In the outlet's story, WPATH President Dr. Marci Bowers rejected accusations that the change was politically motivated. Bowers said "the politics were already evident" and said the body "doesn’t look at politics when making a decision."

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Nevertheless, the subcommittee demanded that HHS turn over all relevant documents and communications by Sept. 10, and warned the department not to obstruct the probe.

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"Under your purview, HHS has not cooperated in good faith with the Committee’s oversight of HHS and its subagencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services," the letter to Becerra said. 

"It is unacceptable for HHS to interfere with congressional investigations by refusing and delaying cooperation with the Committee’s oversight."

Fox News Digital reached out to HHS and the White House for comment but did not receive a response by press time.