New Delhi: Within hours of each other, US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have criticised gender-affirming care for children. Their comments come as the Federal Trade Commission files an enforcement action against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, or WPATH, for “making false and unsubstantiated claims about the safety and efficacy of medical transition procedures”.
In a press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, Trump listed five aspects of his Save America Plan.
“We want no men playing in women’s sports, and we want no transgender mutualisations of our children… That’s all we want. It’s not a lot,” the US president said on 17 June (IST). The other three aspects of the plan include voter ID, proof of citizenship, and no voting by mail.
In a tweet posted during the early hours of Thursday, Vance praised Andrew Ferguson, chairperson of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), for taking action against gender-affirming care for minors in the US.
“Doctors and hospitals used junk science from WPATH to justify selling gender transition procedures to kids and their parents. Huge props to Andrew and his team for taking an important step in our efforts to end this outrageous practice,” he wrote.
In India, the minimum age for gender-affirming surgery is 18 years old.
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‘Gender critical Battle of Stalingrad’
In March 2024, The Guardian reported, hundreds of messages were leaked from a WPATH forum consisting of doctors and mental health workers, where they discussed the risks associated with gender-affirming care for children and teenagers. One video featured doctors admitting that patients are sometimes too young to fully understand the consequences of puberty blockers and hormones for their fertility.
“The problem is not necessarily the discussions themselves, but that the organisation is not so open when speaking publicly,” the report said.
In a tweet on 17 June, Ferguson said that the FTC has taken a major step “in defense of children and parents”.
“Since President Trump was sworn in, the @FTC has been aggressively protecting children and the rights of parents across every part of the economy,” he wrote. He added that WPATH made deceptive claims about the necessity, safety, and efficacy of drugs and surgeries “used to medically transition children”.
“The FTC will not allow parents and children to be deceived by medical organizations and providers who are prioritizing profit over children’s health and safety,” Ferguson wrote.
The tweets have triggered a wave of anti-trans posts and comments on X. Author and JK Rowling has reacted to the FTC’s lawsuit against WPATH.
Taking down WPATH would be the gender critical Battle of Stalingrad. https://t.co/tH61aZgCF3
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 17, 2026
A recent press release by WPATH accused the Trump Administration of abusing the authority of its agencies to interfere with Americans’ right to obtain healthcare.
“A federal district court has already found WPATH is in a strong position to prove that the FTC is acting out of pure retaliation as part of the federal government’s relentless and targeted campaign to undermine gender-affirming care by attacking the First Amendment rights and the independence of professional medical organizations,” said the document.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)