Protest outside Supreme Court (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday released a comprehensive review warning that sex-change surgeries and interventions for minors carry "significant risks" but have "very weak evidence of benefit."

Transgender procedures—including puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and sex-change surgeries—are all "associated with significant risks," with most causing "irreversible physical or physiological effects," according to the 409-page report. The HHS researchers added that there is "very weak evidence" that the procedures offer any benefit for children suffering from gender dysphoria, citing "systematic reviews of evidence around the world."

The review comes in response to President Donald Trump's January 28 executive order titled "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation." The order prohibits "the chemical castration and medical mutilation of innocent children in the United States of America," Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time. "Our Nation will no longer fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support so-called 'gender affirming care,' which has already ruined far too many precious lives."

"This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation's history, and it must end," Trump's order states.

The White House released a fact sheet earlier this week condemning former president Joe Biden for promoting "a grotesque social and scientific experiment on American children."

"During the first three years of [Biden's] administration alone, more than 7,000 children were administered puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones," the fact sheet reads. "Over 4,000 were subjected to sex-trait modification surgical interventions, such as mastectomies."

The HHS in a Thursday press release said the report "fills a gap in the medical literature and existing clinical practice reviews with regard to the ethical aspects of pediatric medical transition," with the report noting that children and their families "require, and are entitled to, accurate, evidence-based information to guide their decisions."

"Our duty is to protect our nation's children—not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions," said National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya. "We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas."

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