CBC Applauds FTC Lawsuit Against WPATH for Deceptive Practices Harming Minors
The Center for Bioethics and Culture (CBC), which has long warned about the profound medical, psychological, and ethical harms of medicalizing gender distress in minors, strongly supports this week's action by the Federal Trade Commission and allied states against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). The complaint alleges that WPATH promoted deceptive and unsupported claims regarding the safety, effectiveness, and necessity of medical “transition” interventions for minors, while minimizing serious risks including infertility.
For the last decade, highlighted in the three documentary films produced on the topic, the CBC has highlighted how WPATH’s “Standards of Care” (SOC-8) prioritize ideological affirmation over rigorous evidence, patient safety, and informed consent. The organization’s guidelines have enabled a rush to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for minors despite mounting independent reviews—such as the UK’s Cass Report—demonstrating weak evidence, significant risks, and the need for far greater caution. The FTC’s complaint echoes many of these concerns, alleging that WPATH’s guidelines and representations helped drive the expansion of a transition medicine industry while minimizing serious risks to children’s long-term health and fertility.
Help Us Get to Texas to Fight Big Fertility!
The Texas State Legislature has an important opportunity to protect human beings from being treated as property by the medical industry. The CBC needs to be there, bringing lawmakers the real people and stories behind the abuses of reproductive and biomedical technologies. We need to raise $3,000 for travel expenses so we can bring the testimony of those exploited by Big Fertility directly to lawmakers in Texas.Donate Now
Congressman Perry Introduces
Bills Targeting Surrogacy by Foreign Nationals and Sex Offenders
This month, Congressman Scott Perry (R-PA), joined by Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN), and Congressman Randy Fine (R-FL), introduced two landmark bills targeting child exploitation and closing yet another loophole that’s endangering our National security. The “Protecting Kids from Creeps Act” (H.R. 9131) imposes penalties on surrogacy agencies that enter into agreements with sex offenders. The “Preventing International Surrogacy Exploitation Act (H.R. 9132),” prohibits foreign nationals from obtaining children through a U.S.-based surrogacy agency. The CBC endorses both bills. They quoted our own Kallie Fell in their press release:
"According to Kallie Fell, Executive Director for the Center for Bioethics and Culture, "For far too long, reproductive technologies and the commercial surrogacy industry have advanced faster than the laws designed to govern them. As surrogacy has become increasingly commercialized, globalized, and complex, meaningful safeguards for women and children have too often been treated as an afterthought. Commercial surrogacy has created a marketplace in which children can be bought, sold, and transferred across borders through contractual arrangements that too often prioritize the desires of adults over the rights and welfare of children. Congressman Perry's legislation confronts two of the most troubling consequences of this industry: the exploitation and commodification inherent in international surrogacy arrangements, and the placement of children into situations that would not be permitted under U.S. adoption law. Children should never be treated as products of a contractual transaction, nor should public policy ignore the vulnerabilities created by a rapidly expanding fertility marketplace. We’re proud to support these bills and commend Congressman Perry for his leadership in advancing policies that protect vulnerable women and children while placing the dignity, safety, and best interests of children first.""Read the Full Press Release
Take Action: Support Root-Cause Fertility Care
Many people ask how they can help advance policies that support authentic, patient-centered fertility care. Here is one simple opportunity.
The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury are accepting public comments through July 13 on a proposed federal rule regarding employer-sponsored fertility benefits. This proposal presents an important opportunity to encourage the inclusion of root-cause approaches to infertility—often called Restorative Reproductive Medicine (RRM)—which focus on diagnosing and treating underlying health conditions rather than bypassing them.
We encourage you to submit a brief public comment supporting the inclusion of root-cause fertility care, comprehensive diagnostic evaluation, and restorative treatments within any fertility benefit framework. Maybe you or your family have been negatively impacted by the fertility industry and want to share your story! Every comment is reviewed as part of the federal rulemaking process, and thoughtful feedback and personal testimony can help shape the final policy.
For those interested in participating, we have provided The Heritage Foundation's background guide with key information and suggested areas for comment. Please take a few minutes to learn more and consider adding your voice before the July 13 deadline.
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