Executive Order 14187

Executive Order 14187

Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation
Type	Executive order
President	Donald Trump
Signed	January 28, 2025 (2025-01-28)

Executive Order 14187, titled "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation", is an executive order issued by Donald Trump on January 28, 2025. According to the New York Times, the executive order takes steps "to end gender-affirming medical treatments for children and teenagers under 19, directing agencies to take a variety of steps to curtail surgeries, hormone therapy and other regimens."

Background

On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump signed executive order Executive Order 14168 ("Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government"), which described transgender identity as an ideology. On January 27, 2025, Donald Trump signed executive order Executive Order 14183 ("Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness") which stated that the policy of United States military readiness is "inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria" and that beyond that, being trans "conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life." This order is seen as consistent with these prior orders.

Summary

The order described gender-affirming care for minors as "chemical and surgical mutilation of children" as well as "maiming" and "sterilizing". It stated "countless children" who received such care would regret a "horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding." The order also described the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's (WPATH) guidance as "junk science".

The order states that the US Federal Government will not "fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another." The provisions include:

• Directing the United States Department of Health and Human Services to review the terms of insurance under Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act to end certain gender affirming care;
• Told federal agencies providing federal grants to medical institutions to make sure those institutions were not carrying out any gender-related procedures;
• Protects whistleblowers who report on institutions that provide gender affirming care in violation of the executive order.

Analysis

According to The New York Times, this executive order, in combination with other gender related executive orders, results in "essentially placing the federal government in opposition to a wide variety of gender-related therapies and to anyone who seeks them." The New York Times has also said that the financial implications of the order are "enormous" since a large fraction of many health care institutions' research budgets come from the federal government, and patient care income comes from Medicare and Medicaid.

In an interview with The Conversation, Elana Redfield, federal policy director at the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, stated:

• "...a big part of the executive order is directing the federal agencies that administer these programs to review their own policies to ensure that they are not supporting gender-affirming care for minors"
• "Ultimately, the president can only take actions in ways that are designated by the Constitution, or through some specific power that Congress has granted to the executive branch. I don’t see that authority granted for a lot of what’s contained in this executive order."
• "...there’s a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for minors. Should the Supreme Court determine that Tennessee is able to ban gender-affirming care for minors, it’s possible to see how this could impact private health insurance coverage for gender-affirming care."
• "...it’s important to remember that executive orders aren’t established policy. They’re simply directing agencies to craft certain policies and encouraging lawmakers to enact legislation."

NBC News described the language in the executive order as inflammatory and noted that major medical associations support access to transgender health care for minors. It also referenced a study published in JAMA Pediatrics that found "less than 0.1% of adolescents with private insurance in the U.S. are transgender or gender-diverse and are prescribed puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones."

The executive order is similar to a portion of Project 2025 that called for withdrawing "guidance issued under the Biden Administration concerning sexual orientation and gender identity under Section 1557" of the Affordable Care Act.

Reactions

Hospitals

The following hospitals or health care providers have paused or ended gender-affirming care for minors in response to the executive order:

• Children's National Hospital in Washington DC paused prescriptions of puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormone therapy for minors in order to "assess the situation further" as of January 30, 2025. The hospital already did not perform gender affirming surgeries on minors. In 2022, the hospital was subject to a harassment campaign for allegedly providing gender-affirming surgeries to minors.
• Denver Health in Colorado stopped providing gender-affirming surgeries for people under the age of 19 as of January 30, 2025.
• NYU Langone Health has reportedly cancelled appointments for providing puberty blockers for some children as of February 3, 2025. They have not, however, made any announcement.
• VCU Medical Center in Virginia suspended gender-affirming medication and gender-affirming surgeries for those under 19 as of January 30, 2025.

The following hospitals and heathcare providers have stated they will continue to provide gender affirming care to minors notwithstanding the executive order:

• Transhealth in Massachusetts said on its website that it will continue providing care.
• Lurie Children's Hospital and Howard Brown Health, both in Illinois, have issued statements stating they will monitor the executive order, but will otherwise continue to provide gender affirming care as needed by their patients.

For

According to The New York Times, "On social media, conservative activists struck a celebratory tone."

Against

Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said, "It is deeply unfair to play politics with people’s lives and strip transgender young people, their families and their providers of the freedom to make necessary health care decisions."

States

• New York's attorney general, Letitia James, sent a letter to New York hospitals and other health care providers on February 2, 2025 warning them that denying health care to pediatric transgender patients may violate New York's anti-discrimination laws.
• After Children's Hospital Los Angeles said that that it had paused or suspended some gender-affirming care for minors, California's attorney general, Rob Bonta, publicly warned the hospital that state law requires providing equal access to healthcare.

Legal actions

On February 4, 2025, several groups including ACLU, Lambda Legal, PFLAG, and GLMA filed a lawsuit in the federal District Court in Maryland against the Trump administration over the executive order. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two young transgender adults, five transgender adolescents and their families whose health care has been disrupted by the executive order. The filing of the lawsuit will be followed by a request for an immediate restraining order against the enforcement of the executive order.

In February of 2025, attorneys general from 15 states issued a joint statement that their states are committed to continuing to provide gender affirming care to minors despite the executive order. The statement cites a federal court's ruling that the Trump administration cannot halt funding approved by Congress. The states signing the joint statement are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.

On February 7, 2025, the states of Washington, Minnesota, and Oregon, along with three doctors, filed a lawsuit in the federal District Court for the Western District of Washington requesting a court order to block enforcement of the executive order. The filing argues that the order is in violation of transgender people's rights to equal protection under the Fifth Amendment, and in violation of the Tenth Amendment by trying to unilaterally criminalize medical practices. All three states require Medicaid and private health plans to cover transgender health care. The lawsuit also argues that the president cannot discontinue research funding already authorized by Congress for hospitals and medical schools in Oregon, Washington and Minnesota.

See also

• List of executive orders in the second presidency of Donald Trump
• 2020s anti-LGBTQ movement in the United States
• Transgender rights in the United States § Treatment for minors
• Healthcare and the LGBTQ community § Denial of health care in the United States

External links

• Full text of the executive order via whitehouse.gov
• Full text of the executive order in the Federal Register