The FBI is seeking help from the public to disclose any medical facilities providing gender-transition procedures for children, building upon a directive by Attorney General Pam Bondi and an executive order by President Donald Trump.
"Help the FBI protect children," the FBI wrote Monday in a post on X. "As the Attorney General has made clear, we will protect our children and hold accountable those who mutilate them under the guise of gender-affirming care. Report tips of any hospitals, clinics, or practitioners performing these surgical procedures on children at 1-800-CALL-FBI or http://tips.fbi.gov."
In April, Bondi issued a memo to the Department of Justice that set agency guidelines on prosecuting crimes involving medical procedures for transgender individuals, including female genital mutilation, false claims about the on- or off-label use of puberty blockers, sex hormones, or any other drug used to facilitate gender transitions, and for the department to work with whistleblowers who have knowledge of such violations.
Her memo also declared the DOJ will partner with state attorneys general to identify leads, share intelligence, and build cases against hospitals and practitioners violating federal or state laws banning female genital mutilation and other, related practices, such as Alabama's Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which makes it a felony for doctors to treat children with puberty blockers or hormones to affirm a gender identity inconsistent with their biological sex.
She also directed the DOJ's Office of Legislative Affairs to draft legislation creating a private right of action for children and the parents of children whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical professionals through chemical and surgical mutilation.
Medical treatment and procedures for transgender youth has been outlawed in 27 states, according to the KFF policy tracker, but lawsuits have been filed in 17, including Alabama, with judges blocking laws in Arkansas and Montana from taking effect. KFF said 40% of transgender youth ages 13-17 live in states that have enacted such laws.
Trump's executive order Jan. 28 targeted transgender medical care and procedures for minors, accusing doctors who perform such treatment of "maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child's sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions."
He called it a "dangerous trend that will be a stain on our Nation's history, and it must end" and declared the U.S. will not "fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another." He declared the federal government will be ending reliance on "junk science" promoted by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. He also directed agency heads to ensure that medical institutions, including medical schools and hospitals, receiving federal research or education grants "end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.