Recent executive orders from former President Donald Trump have led to the widespread shutdown of gender-affirming care for transgender minors, yet hospitals continue to perform non-consensual surgeries on intersex infants and toddlers.
Contradictions in Medical Policy
Trump’s Day One executive order on “gender ideology” asserted that there are only two “immutable” sexes—male and female. A subsequent order, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” blocked federal funding for healthcare institutions providing gender-affirming care to trans youth.
The impact of these policies has been swift. Hospitals across the U.S. have discontinued gender-affirming healthcare for anyone under 19 in response to the federal funding restrictions.
However, the same institutions that have rushed to cut off gender-affirming care continue to perform controversial intersex pediatric surgeries—procedures that have been condemned by major human rights organisations, including the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and Amnesty International.
“Striking” Inconsistency in Medical Practices
InterACT, an intersex rights advocacy group, has highlighted this stark contrast. Sylvan Fraser Anthony, the organisation’s legal and policy director, expressed frustration over how quickly hospitals responded to Trump’s order while continuing non-consensual intersex surgeries.
“Hospitals have been so reluctant—flat out refusing or taking years before issuing some partial policy about whether they’re going to be changing practices related to these non-consensual surgeries on intersex children… Whereas they’re responding within a matter of days and weeks to this executive order when no one is making them—rushing to make policy moves that harm trans patients.”
Intersex advocate Marisa Adams also criticised the orders, arguing that they fail to acknowledge scientific realities, particularly regarding intersex people.
“The ‘gender ideology’ order fails to acknowledge that intersex people can have any gender. So there’s intersex women, there’s intersex men, there’s intersex nonbinary people. I’m an intersex woman, and that executive order certainly does nothing for me.”
The Controversy Around Intersex Surgeries
Intersex surgeries, which date back to the 1960s, aim to align a child’s anatomy with their sex assigned at birth. These procedures can involve reshaping or removing genital tissue and internal reproductive organs—often without the child’s consent.
InterACT reports that more than a dozen hospitals across the U.S. continue to conduct studies in which infants undergo such surgeries. Despite growing medical and ethical concerns, no state or federal laws currently prohibit these procedures.
Approximately 1.7% of the population is born intersex, yet many still face medical interventions aimed at “normalising” their bodies rather than providing patient-led, informed care.
Emory Hufbauer, an intersex advocate from Kentucky, pointed out the contradiction in medical policies:
“This whole system of non-consensual interventions on intersex bodies exists because our natural existence contradicts the idea that all people are born male or female.”
A Growing Crisis in Intersex Healthcare
While intersex surgeries continue, young intersex individuals are now facing a crisis in healthcare. The same providers best equipped to offer them informed medical care are shutting down services due to policy shifts targeting transgender healthcare.
Hufbauer warns that this situation is reaching a breaking point:
“It’s reached a crisis point.”
As the debate over gender and medical ethics continues, intersex rights advocates are calling for greater legal protections and a shift toward patient autonomy in medical decision-making.
