FTC probes trans care claims and risks
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The Federal Trade Commission on Monday launched an inquiry into whether health providers are failing to disclose risks connected with gender-affirming care or are making false claims about its benefits.
Why it matters: The action could help make the case for using unfair competition laws to crack down on health providers, by asserting gender-affirming care involves deceptive claims, legal analysts say.
Driving the news: The FTC solicited public comment through Sept. 26 from consumers who "may have been exposed to false or unsupported claims about 'gender-affirming care,' especially as it relates to minors."
- The move followed a public workshop the FTC held in early July to "gauge the harms consumers may be experiencing" surrounding gender-affirming care for minors that featured prominent critics of youth gender-affirming care.
- The agency justified its involvement by saying its role is to assess whether medical professionals have violated parts of the FTC Act by failing to disclose risks connected with gender-affirming care or making false or unsubstantiated claims about its benefits or effectiveness.
Reality check: Gender-affirming care for minors is supported by major medical organizations including the American Medical Association.
- Drugs like puberty blockers and hormone therapy are prescribed based on individuals' needs and surgeries for minors are rare. Most people who accessed transition-related care as adolescents are happy with that decision as adults, research shows.
Zoom out: The Trump administration has used threats of federal funding cutoffs and law enforcement against providers of gender-affirming care, especially to minors.
- It has said the actions are necessary to protect minors from fraud and medical complications as a result of such medical interventions.
- Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Stanford Medicine and Pittsburgh's UPMC are among the facilities that paused or stopped services following Trump administration federal probes and concerns over continued funding.
- State authorities could open a new front by using the administration's interpretation of federal unfair competition law as a basis to enforce similar state laws, Crowell & Moring said in a recent client alert.
