Lawmakers Demand Answers From NIH Over Transgender Youth Suicides

In January, the results of a long-term study on the effects of minors using cross-sex hormones were made public. The hormones prescribed to the participants were described as “gender-affirming hormones”—with such treatment regimens also referred to in the literature as “gender-affirming care” or “transgender medicine.”

Some 315 people between the ages of 12 and 20 were monitored for a period of two years to examine their “physical and psychosocial outcomes” after the administration of either testosterone or estradiol, a form of estrogen.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the study concluded that the results were ultimately positive because the young participants, who were described as “transgender and nonbinary,” felt and looked more like the opposite sex.

However, a damning line concluded the results in the study’s abstract: “The most common adverse event was suicidal ideation (in 11 participants [3.5%]); death by suicide occurred in 2 participants.”

The suicide rate among participants during the 2-year study was therefore approximately 0.63 percent, which equates to over 630 persons per 100,000—which is more than 50 times the suicide rate given by the CDC for the 10-to-24 years age group overall in the United States (at 11.0 per 100,000).

Suicide Solution or Contributing Factor?

Gender ideology advocates repeatedly point to “gender affirmation” as the solution to reducing the high suicide risk rate in youth experiencing gender dysphoria. Now, however, critics are warning it could be a causing more harm than good.

The United States has become the “most permissive country” when it comes to cross-sex medicine and procedures, according to a report comparing legal measures across different countries. With a federal government that affirms the use of these techniques on children, the realm of “transgender medicine” has become a legal battleground in the states.

On May 9, 15 Republican lawmakers sent a letter (pdf) to Dr. Lawrence Tabak, acting director at NIH, asking why the two-year study was not halted in light of the adverse events. The members of congress gave Dr. Tabak until June 9 to reply, but have yet to receive a response. The NIH also failed to respond to a request by The Epoch Times for similar information.

On July 12, Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) and Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) sent a second letter demanding answers.

“Despite the gravity of the situation, we have yet to receive a response from NIH and request once again that NIH provide transparent answers to the American people,” they wrote in a letter obtained by The Epoch Times.

The four clinics involved in the study have advocated for medically “transitioning” children, leading the lawmakers to question the safety of the study which, they say, likely left 24 participants in early puberty sterile, and put all of the participants at higher risk for cardiovascular disease and blood clotting.

“The American people are rightly demanding transparency and answers from NIH about why it is spending our taxpayer dollars on dangerous, far-Left studies that threaten the health and safety of young people,” Mr. Brecheen told The Epoch Times. “We have given NIH more than two months to respond, what is it trying to hide?”

“The federal government should not be funding studies that encourage gender transition interventions on young people,” Mr. Budd added in a statement. “The NIH’s failure to respond to our official inquiry is further evidence of their cavalier attitude toward the use of taxpayer dollars to conduct highly questionable experiments.”

A project proposal related to the study (pdf) suggested the NIH would continue to fund the research by providing more than $10.6 million through 2026.

“We are deeply concerned about your agency’s use of taxpayer dollars to advance experiments on children who will be irreversibly harmed by radical gender ideology,” the lawmakers wrote in the original letter.

States Pass Laws Against Transitioning Children, But Judges Often Block Them

Currently, 20 states have issued some sort of ban meant to shield children from cross-sex treatments, namely Arkansas, Arizona, Alabama, Utah, South Dakota, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, Iowa, Georgia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Idaho, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Montana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas.

Not all of those bans have gone into effect, however.

Arkansas was the first state to attempt a ban in 2021, but it was blocked 10 days before the law was to go into effect after a lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The case went to trial last year, before U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. permanently blocked the legislation in an 80-page ruling last month. Attorney General Tim Griffin said the state would appeal the decision in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

In Alabama, a 2022 law that made transitioning children a felony was easily signed into law, but then challenged by advocacy groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the U.S. Justice Department. A federal judge blocked a portion of the law, allowing the prescription of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, and the case is awaiting trial.

Arizona was another early state to pass a ban on medically transitioning minors, and while advocacy groups have stated their intention to sue, the law stands.

In 2023, Utah kicked off the new year with a ban proposal, and Missouri was the latest to join the 17 states this year with a bill proposal in June.

In Kentucky, Kansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina, the bills were vetoed (pdf).

Though the Kentucky veto was later overturned, the law was challenged in the courts, and last month federal judges blocked parts of the Kentucky and Tennessee bans. The Tennessee law was recently allowed to go into effect after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction, and the case still needs to go to trial. Kentucky is appealing the ban.

Bans in Florida and Indiana were also blocked under preliminary injunctions last month, with the cases ongoing.

Georgia’s law has been challenged, but stays in effect. Idaho’s law has also been challenged, but is set to go into effect in 2024. Montana and Nebraska have bans set to take effect in October that have recently been challenged. Missouri’s bans go into effect in August but expire after four years. Texas’s ban was previously challenged, but goes into effect on Sept. 1.

Oklahoma’s bill was passed and signed into law, but pending legal action, Attorney General Gentner Drummond has agreed not to prosecute.

Bans on “transgender medicine” are in effect, unchallenged, in Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Utah.