• Under Secretary of Health Rachel Levin has pressured the Global Association of Transgender Medical Professionals to remove age restrictions on sex-reassignment surgery for children, court documents reveal.
• Levine worried that maintaining recommendations limiting the initiation of certain procedures would “make things worse,” according to the email.
• The American Academy of Pediatrics has warned that it will oppose any revisions to its “standards of care” unless the age limit is lifted.

According to federal court documents in a lawsuit over Alabama's gender reassignment surgery restrictions, Biden administration officials pressured the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to change its guidelines for gender reassignment surgery.

Under Secretary of Health Rachel Levin called on WPATH to change recommendations in the organization's “Standards of Care for Transgender and Gender Diverse People's Health, Version 8” (SOC8). documents submitted The lawsuit, Baugh v. Marshall, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. According to an email attached to the filing, Sarah Boatan, Levin's chief of staff, had asked WPATH to remove the age restriction from the process. (Related: 'Serious and Dangerous': DCNF Reporter Describes Findings from Exhaustive Exposé of Major Trans Health Organization)

“Assistant Secretary Levin attempted to, and did, influence the substantive content of SOC-8 based on political rather than scientific objectives,” states an addendum to the supplemental report prepared by Dr. James Cantor. “Specifically, Assistant Secretary Levin, through her staff, pressured WPATH to remove the recommended minimum age for medical transitional care from SOC-8.”

According to a footnote in the filing, the group originally set the age at 14 for hormone therapy, 15 for mastectomy, 16 for facial surgery and “breast implants,” and 17 for castration, hysterectomy and other surgeries.

“We sent this document to Admiral Levin. She really liked SOC-8 but was very concerned that including age (primarily surgery) would impact access to healthcare for trans youth and possibly adults. Apparently the situation in the U.S. is bad and she and the Biden Administration were concerned that including age on the document would make it worse,” the email, quoted in the appendix, reads. “She asked us to remove the age.”

However, by the end of July, it became clear that the SOC-8 guidelines would be changing, as Levine and the Biden administration had called for the removal of the age restriction. pic.twitter.com/qRBppRLhHg

— Do No Harm (@donoharm) June 28, 2024

The Daily Caller News Foundation obtained footage from WPATH's September 2022 Global Education Institute (GEI) and more than 100 pages of documents that include several members of the group questioning the organization's “Standards of Care for Transgender and Gender Diverse People's Health, Version 8” (SOC 8).

In some videos, instructors urged doctors to ignore standard treatment that requires patients to address their mental health issues before undergoing gender reassignment surgery, even if they have schizophrenia. Other videos discussed frightening complications that can occur with some surgeries.

Pressure also came from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which threatened to oppose SOC-8 if WPATH did not remove the minimum age requirement.

“The AAP issued an ultimatum to WPATH: if WPATH did not remove the minimum age, the AAP would not only withhold approval of SOC-8, but would also publicly oppose the document,” the addendum reads. “As a result of this added pressure, plus pressure from Assistant Secretary Levin, WPATH caved in and removed the document, in violation of its own procedures, despite committee members' preference to maintain the age limit.”

According to the DCNF report, the AAP worked with WPATH to oppose legislation restricting sex-reassignment surgery for children.

“The investigation found that WPATH violated multiple international standards for developing clinical guidelines that WPATH claimed to follow in Standards of Care Eight (“SOC-8″); limited the ability of SOC-8's evidence review team to publish a systematic evidence review that found the evidence for transition care to be weak; intentionally used SOC-8 as a political and legal document to expand coverage of transition care and advance WPATH's political goals; bowed to outside political pressure from Admiral Rachel Levine and others to remove SOC-8's age restrictions on hormone therapy and surgery; and engaged in 'muzzling' practices.[d]”WPATH members sought to inform the public of their concerns regarding pediatric transitional care,” the Alabama Attorney General's Office wrote in a motion for summary judgment filed Wednesday. (Related article: WPATH Tapes: Behind-the-scenes recordings reveal what a top gender doctor really thinks about sex-reassignment surgery)

However, by the end of July, it became clear that the SOC-8 guidelines would be changing, as Levine and the Biden administration had called for the removal of the age restriction. pic.twitter.com/qRBppRLhHg

— Do No Harm (@donoharm) June 28, 2024

The Department of Justice Try to eliminate Cantor's testimony in Boe v. Marshall.

“The United States' position is that none of Defendants' experts' opinions regarding the surgery are relevant, that all of Defendants' experts are seeking to opine on matters outside their areas of expertise, and that some of Defendants' experts offer unreliable opinions that are not the product of reliable methodology or lack a sufficient factual basis,” the Justice Department argued in its motion to exclude the testimony of Cantor and the other experts.

“Rachel Levin and the Biden administration have ignored science and subjected children to life-altering experimental medical procedures in the name of radical politics,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb of Do No Harm said in a statement Thursday. release“Their unscientific pressure campaign against WPATH seeks to remove age-based guidelines for sex-reassignment surgery that risk harming thousands of children. Do No Harm calls for Levin to resign immediately or be fired for putting politics over patients.”

Levine, WPATH and the AAP did not immediately respond to DCNF's requests for comment.

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