Health Secretary Rachel Levine Opposed Age Limits for Transgender Treatment

Transgender advocate and Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine pushed to remove age limits from the draft guidelines for medical treatment of people who say they are transgender.

A document called, “Appendix A to Supplemental Expert Report of James Cantonr, PH.D” was released as part of a lawsuit, Boe v. Marshall, according to Jesse Signal, a left-wing critic of transgender ideology. Cantor is described as being a “Canadian sex researcher” and “critic of youth gender medicine, and frequent expert witness on behalf of those attempting to ban” or restrict youth gender health care.

Cantor writes in the document that, Levine “attempted to and did influence the substantive content of” the Standards of Care Rules, version 8 (SOC-8), “based on political goals rather than science.”

The SOC-8 rules are guidelines that help medical professionals provide safe gender-affirming care to people who say they are transgender.

“Specifically, Assistant Secretary Levine through a staff member, pressured WPATH [World Professional Association for Transgender Health] to remove recommended minimum ages for medical transition treatments from SOC-8,” Cantor writes.

In the document, Cantor shows “internal communications from WPATH” members, and communications that show Levine, a biological man, “strongly pressured WPATH leadership to rush the development and issuance of” version eight of the SOC rules, “in order to assist with Administration political strategy.”

The document notes that the internal communications from WPATH members show “the SOC-8 development process” was “influenced by pressure from high-level government appointees” such as Levine in order to remove age limits on transgender medical procedures for transitioning:

I have just spoke to Admiral Levine today, who-as always is extremely supportive of the SOC 8, but also very eager for its release-so to ensure integration in the US health policies o the Biden government. So, let’s crack on with the job!

I am meeting with Rachel Levine and her team next week, as the US Department of Health is very keen to bring the trans health agenda forward.

The failure of WPATH to be ready with SOC 8 is proving a barrier to optimal policy progress and she [Dr. Levine] was eager to learn when SOC 8 might be published.

[T]his should be taken as a charge from the United States government to do what is required to complete the project immediately.

This comes after the SOC-8 rules were released in September 2022. As Breitbart News previously reported, the new guidance included lowered age restrictions, only for the “suggested minimal ages for gender-affirming medical and surgical treatment for adolescents” to be removed in a correction issued a week later.

In the document from Cantor, he also includes internal communications which claim that Sarah Boateng, the chief of staff for Levine, stated that the “biggest concern is the section” included in the “Adolescent Chapter that lists specific minimum ages for treatment, she is confident, based on the rhetoric she is hearing in DC, and from what we have already seen, that these specific listings of ages, under 18, will result in devastating legislation for trans care. She wonders if the specific ages can be taken out and perhaps an adjunct document could be created that is published or distributed in a way that is less visible than the SOC8, is the way to go.”

WPATH is considered the leading and top organization focused on transgender health care. The organization provides guidance for gender dysphoric individuals.