RFK Jr. issues guidance on 'restoring concept of biological truth' of 2 sexes
The directive supports "defending women and children."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was sworn in as HHS secretary on Thursday, said in a news release: "This administration is bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government. The prior administration's policy of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over."
HHS said it also is taking steps to implement policies "protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation, as directed by President Trump's Executive Order 14187 [Jan. 28] and keeping men out of women's sports as specified in Executive Order 14201 [Feb. 5]."
Trump's executive order comes after 26 states have enacted their own bans and restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
There are roughly 1.6 million youths and adults in the United States who identify as transgender, which is about 0.6% of the population 13 and older, according to an estimate by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. About 25% of transgender people report having undergone some form of gender-affirming surgery.
Fewer than 40 of the NCAA's more than 500,000 athletes are known to be transgender, Anna Baeth, director of research at Athlete Ally, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ equality in sports.
HHS has launched a new web page for the federal Office on Women's Health, called "Protecting Women and Children."
It includes a video with Riley Gaines, the former University of Kentucky all-American swimmer who says she was put at a competitive disadvantage when competing against a transgender woman.
"The executive order 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports' ensures the next generation of girls has a fair opportunity to compete with the safety, privacy, and equal opportunity they're entitled to," Gaines said. "The clarity and decisiveness of the Trump administration sends a strong, clear message to women and girls across the country that we matter."
Trump's executive order on his first day in office on Jan. 20 gave HHS 30 days to issue "clear guidance" to the public on how to interpret sex-based definitions.
"These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality," the order said.
These are the definitions from the DHS:
Sex: A person's immutable biological classification as male or female.
Female: A person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs.
Male: A person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing sperm.
Woman: Adult human female.
Girl: Minor human female.
Man: Adult human male.
Boy: Minor human male.
Mother: Female parent.
Father: Male parent.
"In health care, sex distinctions can influence disease presentation, diagnosis, and treatment differently in females and males," Dr. Dorothy Fink, deputy assistant secretary for women's health, said in the news release. "HHS recognizes that biological differences between females and males require sex-specific practices in medicine and research to ensure optimal health outcomes."
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