WASHINGTON—A federal agency is launching an investigation to see whether so-called gender transition procedures are being offered under unfair or false claims.
“Today is not about politics,” Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in his opening remarks at a July 9 workshop examining the issue.
“I’m not charged with passing moral judgment on anyone’s ideology, lifestyle, or medical choices. I am charged, however, with protecting my fellow citizens from unfair or deceptive trade practices.”
Ferguson dismissed the idea that the FTC has no business getting involved in the issue of transgender procedures. He noted that the agency is a watchdog against “fraudulent and deceptive” health claims and has a history of successfully challenging those who peddle them.
He outlined the three factors that the FTC uses to determine whether a consumer claim or practice is “deceptive.”
First, it “must be likely to mislead the consumer,” either through false claims or by omitting necessary information. Second, it “must be likely to mislead a ’reasonable' consumer acting in similar circumstances.” Third, it must be material, or relevant, “to the consumer’s decision to purchase the service” or product.
The FTC will now examine the claimed benefits associated with transgender procedures and whether their patients are being fully informed of the risks involved.
Ferguson noted that such treatments are often recommended to parents to relieve their children’s gender dysphoria.
Proponents of these procedures say puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries are necessary to prevent further distress or suicide.
“Parents are thus confronted with a terrifying choice: Either consent to gender-affirming care, or their child may die,” Ferguson said.
Although proponents of transgender treatments say these medical interventions reduce suicidal thoughts, a 2023 evaluation by the National Institutes of Health points to several studies that show “no statistically significant difference” between individuals who had undergone the procedures and those who had not.
Other studies were flawed and “showed a lack of methodological rigor,” and further research is needed, the institute determined.
Buyer’s Remorse
The FTC’s concerns were bolstered by speakers at the workshop who had “detransitioned” by reversing earlier transgender interventions.
In the case of Simon Amaya Price, the reversal was complete because he had only “socially” transitioned and had undergone no medical procedures. His father had rejected interventions suggested by medical professionals.
Price’s father noted that he could not name the therapist who resolved his son’s gender dysphoria, since such approaches are illegal in their home state of Massachusetts.
Others, such as Forest Smith, who had his testicles removed before deciding to “detransition,” were left with permanent changes ranging from nerve pain to infertility and incontinence.
Whistleblowers—former social workers and registered nurses—also warned that the procedures were being recommended with little oversight, and without addressing underlying psychological issues.
“To a person, every single trans-identified minor female patient that I took care of described herself as either neurodivergent, same-sex attracted, or a survivor of sexual assault,” nurse practitioner Leta Boylan said.
“Some girls were all three.”
Most of these young women were also being monitored for self-harm and were heavily scarred from cutting themselves, Boylan said.
Tamara Pietzke, a former clinical social worker, said that when she asked too many questions about the number of youth undergoing transgender procedures, her employer deemed her a “risk” and would no longer allow her to work with patients suffering from gender dysphoria.
She quit and opened her own practice, only to be slapped with a state investigation for “not being gender-affirming,” she said.
The FTC’s initiative is the latest directed toward gender ideology by the Trump administration. It follows executive orders banning people who identify as transgender from serving in the military, or from having passports with designations other than the bearer’s sex.
The administration has also moved to defund medical institutions that perform transgender procedures on minors, as well as schools that allow males who identify as female to compete in women’s sports.
