Biden Asst. HHS Nominee Refuses to Rule Out Medical “Gender” Experimentation on Minors

Dr. Levine claimed that the issue of providing unapproved cross-sex hormones or amputations to minors was “nuanced”

During a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday afternoon, Biden’s nominee for the Asst. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services*, Dr. Rachel Levine, repeatedly refused to answer a question from Senator Rand Paul on the medical “gender” treatment of minors, even when against the wishes of parents and guardians. 

“Do you support the government intervening to override the parent's consent to give a child puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and/or amputation surgery of breasts and genitalia?” Sen. Paul asked Levine, who has repeatedly expressed his support for giving off-label puberty blockers to minors. 

Dr. Levine refused to answer the question, instead stating that “transgender medicine is a very complex and nuanced field.”

However, in a speech Dr. Levine gave at Franklin and Marshall College Levine gave in 2017 which was recently uncovered, he explicitly argued in favor of giving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors, spoke of his own history providing experimental drugs to minors, and advocated an “accelerated timeline” for “street kids.” 

Sen. Paul also asked Dr. Levine about the case of Keira Bell, a young woman whose case against a UK youth gender clinic revealed the widespread ethical failings of providing “gender treatments” to minors who are not able to fully consent to the long-term impacts of the experiments.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have reported testing puberty blockers in children as young as eight-years-old. Puberty blockers are not approved by the FDA for the use on children to treat “gender dysphoria,” and the long-term risks are not yet known—facts even admitted by proponents of the medicalization of gender non-conforming minors.  

This is particularly worrying because many children, like Keira Bell, grow out of identifying as trans — Evidently, more research is needed, but it appears that anywhere between 65 to 94 percent of trans-identifying children eventually desist (stop identifying as trans). In fact, many turn out to be gay or lesbian. Disturbingly, the stories of these detransitioners are largely ignored or intentionally silenced in the mainstream gender debate despite the serious implications of chemically sterilizing and permanently disfiguring gender non-conforming and LGB youth.

As Asst. HHS Secretary, Dr. Levine would help oversee the FDA, NIH, and Administration for Children and Families (ACF) as well as have the authority to promote and fund research priorities, waive restrictions on certain drugs, and shape insurance policies across the nation. As the former Pennsylvania Physician General, he worked to force insurance providers and Medicaid to cover “gender confirmation treatment.”

Dr. Levine was also widely criticized for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as the Pennsylvania Health Secretary when he removed his own mother from a PA nursing home last March after forcing nursing and long-term care homes in the state to continue accepting COVID patients. Most of the residents and staff at long-term care homes are women, often from demographic groups with little to no political influence, whose concerns are easily brushed aside. 

Many of Biden’s other Cabinet nominations have also expressed support for gender ideology, including Dr. Miguel Cardona who was nominated for Education Secretary and refused to commit to endorsing Title IX which ensures women and girls have access to safe, fair, and equitable athletic opportunities. 

Take Action

National and statewide polling have found that two-thirds of voters (67 percent nationwide) disagree with children under the age of 18 undergoing physical sex-change surgery or taking cross-sex hormones. 

The Senate, responsible for confirming political nominees like Dr. Levine, has also stated that they will be voting on the Equality Act following its recent passage in the House. Now, more than ever, it is vital that Senators hear from constituents on the threats posed to women, children, and LGB Americans by regressive “gender identity” policies. We must no longer be a silent majority, but a powerful force that our representatives cannot ignore.

*This article has been updated to reflect that Dr. Levine has been nominated for the Assistant Secretary position