A letter from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to Secretary of Defense Gen. Lloyd Austin, which was exclusively obtained by Breitbart News, inquires about support for transgender medical interventions among doctors associated with the Department of Defense.
“Even as the threats to this country from foreign adversaries worsen, your department is apparently preoccupied with advancing shocking claims that pander to activist crowds,” the letter opens.
The letter highlights a recent story that revealed that doctors associated with the Department of Defense advocated for minors to receive so-called “gender-affirming care.” The physicians claimed that children as young as seven “have an inherent ability and right to consent to gender-affirming therapy.”
“These gender interventions can cause permanent sterility, worsen mental health, hamper brain development, cause blindness, and even lead to premature mortality,” Attorney General Bailey’s letter reads before going on to question, “How is a seven-year-old supposed to assess all these known side effects and consent?”
Bailey also contends that the “Pentagon officials advancing this shocking claim do nothing to advance our nation’s defensive capabilities” before going on to cite prominent national security concerns like our “proxy war with Russia” or the “increasingly bellicose government of Communist China.”
But the physicians advocating for children to undergo irreversible medical interventions are doing so “without any evidence,” Bailey charges. “Certainly the Pentagon’s radical views are not shared by other agencies,” the letter points out.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, for example, found that “there is a lack of current evidence-based guidance for the care of children who identify as transgender, particularly regarding the benefits and harms of pubertal suppression, medical affirmation with hormone therapy, and surgical affirmation.”
Bailey adds:
This recognition that there is no solid clinical evidence supporting gender-transition interventions calls into question whether anybody (much less seven-year-olds) can truly consent to these interventions if they are not informed of this absence of evidence and the serious health consequences.
The letter also contrasts the approach of these Department of Defense physicians with “the medical and scientific judgment of our allies in Europe.” Medical institutions in several nations, including Norway, Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, have all recently pointed out that the effectiveness and safety of so-called “gender-affirming care” lack evidence.
One prominent hospital in Sweden even announced that it would stop providing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormone therapy to patients who suffer from gender dysphoria.
Meanwhile, Bailey continued to discuss the role of the Pentagon and the Secretary of Defense, writing:
I have led troops in combat and I have seen young soldiers, far from home, spill their blood to complete the mission their country asked of them. As Secretary of Defense, you have a sacred duty to make sure that every time Americans are ordered into harm’s way they go with the assurance that their senior military leaders are one-hundred percent committed to making the mission a success and bringing them home to their families.
But Bailey says, “The Pentagon lacks this single-mindedness,” before contending, “When our nation’s top military brass lose focus and prioritize political correctness instead of military readiness, our nation is less safe, and our enemies are emboldened.”
“It is time to return to your constitutional mission of protecting the American people,” the letter charges.
Finally, Bailey requests that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin provide him with “all of the medical studies your doctors have relied on to advance this radical position which includes allowing grade school-aged children to undergo life-altering gender transition interventions” by April 30.
“Please also detail how Pentagon doctors have come to conclusions different than the European health authorities cited above,” the letter concludes.
Bailey has taken action in Missouri to defend children from irreversible medical interventions that seek to change their sex, issuing an emergency regulation mandating that providers disclose information about puberty blockers and cross-sex hormone treatment.
He also demanded a moratorium on procedures at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Clinic, though the clinic refused. “We are on offense” and leaving “no stone unturned,” he said in an interview with Breitbart News.
Bailey established a hotline service that enables citizens to report cases in which children are subjected to transgender medical interventions. The form to submit a report reads, “Complete this form to submit a complaint or concern about gender transition intervention you have experienced or observed in Missouri.”
As several states, including Missouri, Tennessee, Idaho, Texas, and others have taken action to protect children from transgender medical interventions, the Biden Administration has doubled down on its support of transgenderism.
Spencer Lindquist is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerLndqst and reach out at slindquist@breitbart.com