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. It described transgender identity as an ideology. On January 27, 2025, Donald Trump signed executive order Executive Order 14183 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." The current 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."

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."

Reactions

Hospitals

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

• As of January 30, 2025, Denver Health (hospital) in Colorado stopped providing gender-affirming surgeries for people under the age of 19.
• As of January 30, 2025, VCU Medical Center in Virginia suspended gender-affirming medication and gender-affirming surgeries for those under 19.
• As of January 30, 2025, 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". 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.

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."

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