Jon Brown.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) joined four states in filing a lawsuit Wednesday against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) for alleged deceptive practices regarding the treatment of children suffering from gender dysphoria.
The complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and joined by Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas, alleges that the world’s leading association for transgender medicine made false and unsubstantiated claims to parents to sell pediatric medical transition services for their children, including drugs and surgery.
“When an entity makes a claim about a medical treatment, the claim must be truthful, evidence-based and not misleading,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a press release. “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.”
“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 added.
The complaint accuses WPATH, which the FTC described as “an association of clinicians who profit from pediatric medical transition services,” of violating the FTC Act by misleading parents and their children about the medical consensus and necessity of transgender procedures, as well as their safety and effectiveness.
WPATH’s Standards of Care, which advocate for an “affirmative” model of treatment for those experiencing gender dysphoria, have been used internationally, though several European nations and international health systems have shifted away from this paradigm to embrace a more cautious approach.
Joe Simonson, director of public affairs for the FTC, told reporters that WPATH intentionally “deceived parents and children of the medical and scientific basis for such services” to increase the likelihood that the interventions would be covered by insurance.
“WPATH professional members have profited immensely from the organization’s work, but this profit has come at the expense of children and their parents,” Simonson said.
WPATH issued a statement Wednesday afternoon dismissing the lawsuit’s claims as “baseless” while accusing the Trump administration of abusing its authority and the plaintiffs of “[enlisting] the administration’s go-to, obedient state attorneys general to help do its unlawful bidding.”
“The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is not a medical provider and has no place interfering with the process of individualized medical decision-making. The FTC also does not have any jurisdiction over WPATH and its noncommercial speech. The state claims have similar factual and legal flaws,” WPATH said.
The lawsuit comes almost a year after the FTC held a day-long workshop last July that featured testimony from multiple panels of experts and detransitioners, some of whom were reduced to tears recounting what they described as the acute physical and psychological suffering they experienced from undergoing “gender-affirming care.”
Last December, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was taking steps to push back against what he described as “sex-rejecting” transgender procedures for minors.
Kennedy said the proposed HHS rules would bar hospitals participating in Medicare and Medicaid from performing transgender procedures on children, citing risks of irreversible harm such as infertility, impaired sexual function, bone density loss and altered brain development.
