Trump rescinds Biden order protecting gender clinics from investigation, signals new whistleblower protections
The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) announced Friday it would be rescinding an executive order issued by former President Joe Biden in March 2022, which, among other things, gave hospitals the right not to comply with state-level investigations related to their provision of transgender medical treatments to minors. Trump's directive eliminates these protections, and the rescission notice indicates that further safeguards for medical whistleblowers are anticipated in the future.
"Under the Biden regime, the door for whistleblowers was closed," said Dr. Eithan Haim, who was prosecuted by the Biden administration after he leaked documents to the media that revealed Texas Children's Hospital in Houston was performing transgender medical procedures on minors, even after it said it had stopped. "It was a complete inversion of the role of HHS, the role of our legal framework, because the criminal entities were being protected and the individuals exposing criminal entities were now the ones being targeted."
Riley Gaines Featured In Trump Hhs Website That Builds On 'Two Sexes' Executive Order
Haim was indicted last year by Biden's Department of Justice for blowing the whistle on Texas Children's Hospital, after it continued to provide transgender medical treatments to minors even though the hospital had publicly indicated it had stopped such services in order to comply with new state guidance. Several days after President Donald Trump was sworn in, the charges against Haim were dropped.
Under Biden's March 2022 directive, titled, "HHS Notice and Guidance on Gender Affirming Care, Civil Rights and Patient Privacy," hospitals were permitted, but not required, to comply with investigations seeking information on their provision of transgender treatments. But, according to HHS's rescission notice, such guidance lacked "adequate legal basis under federal privacy laws." The notice added that, "by its own terms," Biden's March 2022 directive "permits" the release of personal health information tied to transgender procedures when it is needed to comply with other laws.
Read On The Fox News App
Trans Star Of Hit Hbo Series Says Renewed Passport Now Says Male After Trump Order
"Covered entities should no longer rely on the rescinded 2022 OCR Notice and Guidance," stated HHS' rescission notice. It added that "in consultation with the Attorney General" the agency will also be "expeditiously" issuing new guidance to protect whistleblowers who take action in accordance with Trump's efforts to protect children "from chemical and surgical mutilation."
Haim said that under Trump's new leadership, the U.S. legal system is being restored "to a place of equal protection under law, particularly as it relates to people who are trying to follow [Trump's] executive order, or any other federal laws."
"The key thing with this new directive is that, as a healthcare provider, if a hospital or other doctors are participating in misconduct, if they're lying about something, if they are intervening on patients in a way that is harmful to those patients – especially kids – as a doctor, it's not only something you should do, it's something you have to do," Haim pointed out.
Click To Get The Fox News App
In addition to compelling hospitals and gender clinics to begin rigorous compliance with investigations, the Trump administration's Friday directive also removed gender dysphoria from being considered a disability under the federal Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also rescinded orders from the Biden administration indicating it was discrimination for federally funded health programs to refuse to treat someone on the basis of their gender identity.
Fox News Digital reached out to HHS for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.Original article source: Trump rescinds Biden order protecting gender clinics from investigation, signals new whistleblower protections
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
13 minutes ago
- Forbes
Trump-Zelenskyy Meeting: What To Know As Macron, Meloni, Starmer And More Will Attend
Leaders from major European allies, NATO and the European Union are traveling to Washington, D.C., to join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Monday meeting with President Donald Trump—setting up what appear to be crucial talks as Trump pushes for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine that has been raging since the Russian invasion in 2022. Leaders from the EU and NATO will join the Ukrainian president at the White House. Getty Images Zelenskyy will travel to meet with Trump at the White House on Monday. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will reportedly take part in the talks, as well as leaders of individual allied nations including French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. Trump administration officials have provided few details about what concessions the Russians may have offered at the negotiations in Alaska on Friday, but speaking to CNN on Sunday morning, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff described the Trump-Putin meeting as 'game-changing.' Witkoff said the Trump administration would likely discuss Ukraine exchanging territory with Russia, what he called a 'fundamental issue' for the Russians, but the administration would not make any decisions for Ukraine when it came to territory. 'We intend to discuss it on Monday,' Witkoff told CNN's Jake Tapper. The special envoy did not offer concrete details on what concessions the Russians may have offered in terms of territory, but added 'that discussion is going to specifically be detailed on Monday, when President Zelenskyy arrives with his delegation and some of the other European leaders,' Witkoff said. 'And, hopefully, we can cut through and make some decisions right then and there on that.' Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian territory Crimea in 2014, and three years after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia controls the majority of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. The Trump administration said the Russians may support Ukraine signing a future security deal with the U.S. and European allies—but even with the security guarantees, convincing the Ukrainians to cede territory could prove difficult for the Trump administration. Zelenskyy has consistently rejected peace offers that include territorial exchanges in the past, and reiterated this sentiment in a statement posted on social media Sunday, shortly after meeting with European leaders in Brussels. 'There is clear support for Ukraine's independence and sovereignty,' the Ukrainian president said. 'Everyone agrees that borders must not be changed by force.' What Is Article 5? The Trump administration says that Russian negotiators indicated they would agree to allow Ukraine to sign a future security agreement with the U.S. and European allies—one that would offer similar protections like those outlined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, the document that forms the basis of NATO. Article 5 guarantees that if one NATO member is attacked, it is considered an attack on all member states, and all member states are compelled to take necessary action to 'restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.' Witkoff told Tapper the administration got the Russians to agree to allow the U.S. and European nations to 'effectively offer Article 5-like language to cover a security guarantee.' However, he was adamant that this would not amount to Ukraine actually joining NATO—something he said the Russians still viewed as a 'red flag.' The special envoy did not elaborate on the details of the guarantee. European leaders are trying to avoid a repeat of the tense press public meeting Zelenskyy held with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in February, Reuters and other outlets reported Sunday. However, Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected this notion while speaking to CBS News' Margaret Brennan on Sunday morning. 'We've been working with these people for weeks,' Rubio said. 'They're coming here tomorrow because they chose to come here tomorrow. We invited them to come.' Rubio said the Trump administration was focused on hammering out a peace deal. 'Look, our goal here is not to stage some production for the world to say, oh how dramatic he walked out,' he said. 'Our goal here is to have a peace agreement to end this war.'
New York Times
13 minutes ago
- New York Times
Monday Briefing: A Trump-Zelensky Meeting
Ukrainian and E.U. leaders visit the White House President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is set to meet today with President Trump. Their sit-down comes shortly after Trump met with President Vladimir Putin of Russia and broke with allies to back Putin's proposed peace plan, which would require Ukraine to cede a large portion of territory. Here are the latest updates and what you need to know. European leaders — including Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz; President Emmanuel Macron of France; and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain — said they would accompany Zelensky in a show of solidarity. Trump's friendly meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday was a setback for Ukraine and its European allies. But Kyiv was left with one small glimmer of hope: a U.S. proposal to create security guarantees for Ukraine, designed to deter future Russian aggression. Context: Russia's proposal to end the war centers on persuading Ukraine to give up the Donbas, the industrial Russian-speaking region in the east. On the ground: Ukrainians who were forced to leave their homes because of Russia's aerial bombardments called the Trump-Putin summit an insult. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CNN
13 minutes ago
- CNN
US suspends visitor visas for Gazans
Donald Trump The Middle East Federal agenciesFacebookTweetLink Follow Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the State Department suspended visitor visas for Gazans because it received 'evidence' that some organizations facilitating the visas to the US 'have strong links to terrorist groups like Hamas,' without providing further details. The State Department announced in a post on X on Saturday that it would halt all visitor visas for individuals from Gaza as it reviews the process that allows them to temporarily enter the US for medical and humanitarian reasons. Rubio told CBS' 'Face the Nation' on Sunday that 'evidence' had been presented to the Trump administration by 'numerous congressional offices' and that the department had received 'outreach from multiple congressional offices asking questions about it.' He did not give details on the evidence or the offices that presented it. Far-right Trump ally Laura Loomer has taken credit for the pause in the visas following her claims that the families arriving from Gaza 'threaten our national security.' Loomer specifically criticized HEAL Palestine, an American nonprofit dedicated to providing critical aid to Palestinian families, including bringing kids suffering from severe injuries, psychological trauma and malnourishment to receive care in the US. The group says it has evacuated 63 injured children and 148 total people. The group, which returns Palestinians back to the Middle East after they are treated in US hospitals, criticized the Trump administration's move to halt visitor visas, saying in a statement on Sunday, 'this is a medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program.' As of May, the US has issued almost 4,000 visas to people holding Palestinian Authority passports permitting them to seek medical treatment in America. That number also includes Palestinians living outside of Gaza, such as in the West Bank. Rubio said Sunday that while a 'small number' of visas had been issued to children, 'they come with adults accompanying them, obviously, and we are going to pause this program and reevaluate how those visas are being vetted.' 'We're not going to be in partnership with groups that have links or sympathies towards Hamas,' he continued, without naming any specific groups or providing more information to corroborate the administration's concerns. CNN reached out to the State Department for more information about the evidence cited by Rubio. President Donald Trump acknowledged last month there is 'real starvation' in Gaza, breaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with. 'I see it, and you can't fake that. So, we're going to be even more involved,' Trump told reporters of the humanitarian crisis.
