The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has joined with four states in a lawsuit seeking to stop the leading medical organization focused on gender transition from deceptive practices misleading parents about the dangers of subjecting their children to transgender procedures.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the FTC alleges that the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), an association of clinicians who profit from pediatric medical transition services, is making false and unsubstantiated claims to promote those procedures and portray them as safe. Additionally, WPATH is providing to doctors the means by which to market those procedures to children and parents, the lawsuit notes.
Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit, charging that WPATH is violating state consumer protection laws, as well as the federal FTC Act. The lawsuit seeks a court-ordered permanent injunction be imposed on WPATH, as well as civil penalties, cost-reimbursement and other forms of relief.
“Today, the FTC filed a lawsuit against WPATH alleging that the organization made false and unsubstantiated claims regarding the necessity, effectiveness and safety of puberty blockers, hormones and sex-change surgeries,” FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson said in a statement.
WPATH-recommended medical interventions “misled parents and children about the medical consensus and medical necessity, as well as the safety and effectiveness, of such services, in violation of the FTC Act,” the Commission charges. These gender-transition medical services for minors include drugs, surgeries, and other interventions.
The lawsuit alleges that WPATH establishes, publishes, distributes, and promotes “Standards of Care” (“SOC”), which its members and other clinicians can use to justify and promote the sale of medical transition services – standards that omit and understate the potential dangers to children of the services.
WPATH is alleged to dishonestly claim that its SOC are evidence-based and consensus-based clinical guidelines for providing medical transition services, including for children:
“WPATH falsely asserts that its recommendations are the result of rigorous scientific procedures and expert consensus, even though WPATH disregarded established guideline‑development standards, ignored the results of its own evidence reviews, and removed age limits in response to external pressure rather than scientific evidence.”
Other WPATH claims, such as that puberty blockers are fully reversible and that breast amputations improve children’s mental health and are “lifesaving,” are also unfounded and misleading, the plaintiffs say, citing research.
Additionally, the SOC was created with the goal of portraying transition services as being medically necessary, so that health insurance companies would be compelled to cover them, the lawsuit says:
“Major health insurance companies likewise rely on the SOC’s determination of medical necessity. That is no accident. In fact, WPATH crafted the SOC with the explicit goal of guaranteeing that insurers would classify virtually all medical transition services as medically necessary and therefore covered by their insurance plans.
“Indeed, SOC-8’s drafters repeatedly emphasized in internal communications that SOC-8 should be written to guarantee insurance coverage—including by replacing objective criteria with provider discretion, removing age minimums, and issuing broad ‘medical necessity’ declarations for nearly every medical-transition intervention.”
A 2016 regulation by the Obama Administration helped open the door for health insurance coverage for minors receiving transgender medical services. Through a rule relating to Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Obama Administration prohibited federally-funded health insurers and providers from excluding or denying coverage of gender transition procedures based on age, among other categories - if the services are deemed medically necessary.
What’s more, WPATH allegedly fails to disclose material information about the significant risks and life-long side effects associated with medical transition drugs, surgeries, and other interventions:
“These misrepresentations and deceptive omissions have caused unspeakable physical and psychological harm to countless children, as reflected in the sworn statements attached hereto and described below.”
Based on its allegations, the lawsuit charges WPATH with violations of each of the four individual state’s consumer protection laws. Regarding the FTC Act, it accuses WPATH of violating prohibitions on provision of the “means and instrumentality to engage in deception” via:
- “Deceptive Establishment and Efficacy Claims.”
- “Misrepresentations Regarding the Standards of Care.”
- “Failure to Disclose Side Effects.”
As relief for the alleged violations, the lawsuit asks for the court to enter a permanent injunction to prevent future WPATH violations of the FTC Act and the states’ consumer protection laws, as well as for compensation to be paid to each state.
“I commend Chairman Ferguson and the FTC for taking decisive action against WPATH,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a statement issued Wednesday:
“The FTC’s action comes after growing scrutiny of the evidence base, guideline-development process, and conflict-of-interest practices surrounding influential organizations promoting sex-rejecting procedures. HHS’s Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices [PDF], released in November 2025, documented significant concerns regarding the development of WPATH’s Standards of Care Version 8 (SOC-8) clinical guidelines that have shaped so-called ‘pediatric gender medicine’ in the United States and internationally.”
“When medical organizations prioritize advocacy over scientific rigor, they deserve to be held accountable,” Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brian Christine, M.D. added. “HHS review identified significant weaknesses in the evidence base and guideline-development process surrounding ‘pediatric gender medicine’ promoted by WPATH. We welcome FTC efforts to examine those findings and take action as appropriate to protect patients and strengthen trust in medical recommendations.”
“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,” FTC Chairman Ferguson vowed in a social media post reporting the lawsuit:
“While we can never undo the many harms caused by WPATH’s deception, we can prevent WPATH from making false and unsubstantiated medical claims in the future, and that’s what we intend to do.”
