A group that opposed gender-affirming care for minors says the treatments are harmful and permanent, and is calling for the practice to end in the U.S. should be ended in the U.S.
A report – released by Do No Harm and written by its medical director, Dr. Kurt Miceli – debunks popular beliefs concerning gender-affirming care for minors, such as the idea that it improves quality of life and mental health or that it decreases suicides.
Do No Harm is an organization of “physicians, nurses, medical students, patients, and policymakers focused on keeping identity politics out of medical education, research, and clinical practice,” according to its website.
“The evidence behind these sex trait modifications is extremely weak, while the danger posed is extremely great,” Miceli wrote, calling for an end to gender-affirming care.
Gender-affirming care is “destroying the lives of countless youths through social affirmation, hormonal manipulation, and surgical removal of healthy body parts,” Miceli wrote.
Miceli told The Center Square that “the risks associated with so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ are extensive, spanning from psychological to physical.”
“Individuals may come to later grapple with regret and unresolved mental health challenges, particularly given many of the irreversible effects from these interventions,” Miceli said.
“Additionally, infertility, sexual dysfunction, and cardiovascular disease are among the serious side effects linked to pediatric medical transition,” Miceli said.
“Surgical procedures carry significant risks, especially given their permanent effect and potential complications,” Miceli said.
Proponents argue the opposite, that such practices as subscribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy can help improve the mental health of minors.
But Miceli told The Center Square that, “without a doubt, we need to do more to protect children with gender dysphoria from these unproven and dangerous practices.”
Miceli said that “much can be done to protect children from the harms of ‘gender-affirming care.’”
“Many states have taken legislative action to end these practices in minors and the House recently passed the ‘One, Big, Beautiful Bill,’ which ends all federal funding for pediatric medical transition,” Miceli said.
“Additionally, medical associations in the United States must move past ideology and recognize the lack of evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of these interventions in minors,” Miceli said.
Miceli further told The Center Square that, “as documented in the Stop the Harm database, from 2019 to 2023, nearly 14,000 minors underwent some form of pediatric medical transition whether with puberty blockers, hormones, or surgeries.”
“Of those, more than 5,700 underwent surgery,” Miceli said. “These figures represent young lives deeply affected by the consequences of gender ideology.”
“As a society, we must do better for our children and adolescents by ending these harmful, experimental practices,” Miceli said.
A May 2025 review by the United States Health and Human Services found nearly identical findings as Do No Harm did about gender-affirming care for minors: “the science and evidence do not support [the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries], and the risks cannot be ignored.”
The American Principles Project (APP) – a pro-family organization – is also in agreement that gender-affirming care for minors is harmful.
APP’s President Terry Schilling told The Center Square that “Big Pharma and the radical left have been pushing our children to receive ‘gender-affirming’ care that is extremely detrimental to their bodies and well-being so they can make a quick buck.”
“We have been fighting to protect our children from the Gender Industrial Complex and thankfully, President Trump has become a champion on their behalf,” Schilling said.
Schilling also noted how Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill “strips federal funding for these dangerous practices.”
Schilling told The Center Square “we are working with the Senate to ensure that we put an end to this madness.”
Around the same time as Do No Harm’s report calling for the end of gender-affirming care in minors, it was announced that Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will soon be closing its transgender programs for minors, according to the Los Angeles Times.
