{"id":744024,"date":"2026-06-18T02:27:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/744024\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T02:27:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:27:49","slug":"federal-trade-commission-sues-leading-transgender-health-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/744024\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Trade Commission sues leading transgender health group"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The Federal Trade Commission and four states sued the World Professional Association for Transgender Health on Wednesday, in the latest push by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration and others to limit transgender care<\/a> for minors.\n <\/p>\n

\n The suit alleges the group, known widely as WPATH, made deceptive claims about transgender care for minors and its members profited off the claims. Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas filed along with the FTC.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cParents have a right to make informed decisions about their children\u2019s health,\u201d FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said on X. \u201cThe FTC will not allow parents and children to be deceived by medical organizations and providers who are prioritizing profit over children\u2019s health and safety.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The suit also alleges the group didn\u2019t disclose the side effects of certain pediatric medical transition services, including those related to hormone treatments, and doctors then repeated to consumers \u201cfalse, misleading or unsubstantiated statements about safety and efficacy found in WPATH guidelines.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n It asks a federal judge to block WPATH from \u201cfuture violations of the FTC Act\u201d and other laws, and to award civil penalties and other financial awards to each of the states.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a statement WPATH said its guidelines call for care that is tailored to individual patients, rather than a \u201cone size fits all\u201d approach.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cTransgender and gender-diverse patients deserve the highest level of care from their medical professionals,\u201d the group said, saying its standards are \u201cdesigned to promote this through open dialogue and clear communication.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Lawrence Gostin, an international public health expert at Georgetown University, said the lawsuit represented a \u201csignificant expansion\u201d of the FTC\u2019s past approach to healthcare enforcement.\n <\/p>\n

\n He said the agency is using consumer protection law to challenge a medical association\u2019s standards of care, and the FTC \u201chas rarely, if ever, focused on the scientific justifications for clinical medical guidelines.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis strikes me as especially concerning given the Trump administration\u2019s repeated attempts to use transgender health as a cultural and political issue,\u201d Gostin said. \u201cThe FTC would be highly unlikely to second-guess clinical guidelines in areas that do not align with its political agenda.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Leaders at the Department of Health and Human Services applauded the FTC\u2019s move, pointing to an HHS review that questioned WPATH standards. That report was sharply criticized<\/a> by major medical groups and those who treat transgender young people as inaccurate.\n <\/p>\n

\n Transgender care for youth under standards widely used in the U.S. involves developing a plan with medical experts and family members that includes supportive talk therapy and can \u2014 but does not always \u2014 involve puberty blockers or hormone treatment. Many U.S. adolescents with gender dysphoria may decide not to proceed with medications or surgeries.\n <\/p>\n

\n WPATH has established widely accepted medical standards for such care for more than 50 years, the organization\u2019s website notes, based on \u201cestablished scientific standards, expert consensus and patient-centered values.\u201d The group does not directly provide medical care to patients.\n <\/p>\n

\n The suit comes following an investigation by the agency into WPATH. The group sued to block the probe, alleging the agency was violating its First Amendment rights. A federal judge in May ruled in favor of WPATH to temporarily block the probe from continuing.\n <\/p>\n

\n The FTC also launched investigations into the American Academy of Pediatrics<\/a> and the Endocrine Society<\/a> over their guidelines on transgender care. Both of those groups also sued.\n <\/p>\n

\n WPATH noted in a statement that a federal court has already ruled against the FTC over this effort when it blocked the investigation.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWPATH is in a strong position to prove that the FTC is acting out of pure retaliation as part of the federal government\u2019s relentless and targeted campaign to undermine gender-affirming care by attacking the First Amendment rights and the independence of professional medical organizations,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe expect the same result when we oppose this latest attack on WPATH and its mission to promote evidence-informed care and guidance for doctors and their patients.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Fewer than 1 in 1,000 adolescents in the U.S. received medication related to transgender care \u2014 puberty blockers or hormones \u2014 according to a five-year study of those on commercial insurance released this year. About 1,200 patients underwent surgeries<\/a> related to transgender care in one recent year, according to another study.\n <\/p>\n

\n While the nation\u2019s largest professional organization for plastic surgeons in February recommended that such surgeries be delayed<\/a> until patients turn 19, most other major groups have stood by their guidelines to act on a case-by-case basis and use caution when considering surgery for minors.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Federal Trade Commission and four states sued the World Professional Association for Transgender Health on Wednesday, in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-744024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}