The Texas attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission filed suit against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, alleging deceptive marketing of gender-transition treatments for minors; the organization will have the opportunity to respond in court
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has joined the Federal Trade Commission in filing a lawsuit against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, or WPATH, accusing the organization of deceptively promoting gender-transition procedures and treatments for children.
According to Paxton’s office, the suit alleges that WPATH’s members deceptively marketed drugs, surgeries, and other medical interventions aimed at children expressing discomfort with their biological sex, and worked to ensure that healthcare providers authorized those treatments. The office alleges that WPATH removed age limitations for some pediatric transition procedures without an adequate scientific basis and failed to disclose what it described as serious and often permanent consequences. These are allegations that WPATH has not yet answered in court.
“Any group that illegally promotes irreversible, life-altering ‘transitioning’ procedures to kids as safe and necessary will face the full force of the law for harming children,” Paxton said in a statement. He said the state would seek to stop what he called WPATH’s illegal operations.
Paxton’s office said it is bringing claims under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and is seeking to end WPATH’s operations and hold it accountable. According to the office, the attorneys general of Alaska, Iowa, and Nebraska are joining Texas in the action.
WPATH is an international professional medical organization that publishes widely cited clinical guidelines for transgender health care. The standards of care it produces, and the broader question of medical treatment for transgender minors, are the subject of ongoing scientific debate and active litigation across the country. WPATH had not publicly responded to the lawsuit at the time of the announcement.
