A major taxpayer-funded study tracking the effects of puberty blockers on minors has finally been released — and the results confirm what every credible international review has already shown.
These drugs do not deliver the promised mental health benefits.
The NIH-funded Trans Youth Care study, led by Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, followed roughly 95 youth ages 8 to 16 on puberty blockers over 24 months. Researchers tracked depression symptoms, emotional functioning, and parent-reported behavioral measures.
The results showed no significant improvement. Mental health metrics remained “stable” — a polite way of saying the serious mental health conditions these children suffered before receiving the controversial treatments remained serious after.
“THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF THE POSITIVE CLINICAL GAINS THAT HAD BEEN REPEATEDLY ASSERTED TO JUSTIFY THESE INTERVENTIONS ON DEVELOPING CHILDREN.”
Not only did these children continue suffering from their mental health issues — now they face lifelong physical harms from the interventions.
This was clearly not the outcome the study’s lead investigator wanted. According to The New York Times, Olson-Kennedy and her team withheld the data for years, stating they did not want the findings “to be weaponized.”
Millions of taxpayer dollars funded this research. The public paid for the truth. Publication was delayed because the results destroyed their preferred ideological narrative.
The long-delayed findings were reported only after the Oversight Project sued. Without these efforts, this data might still be buried.
It wasn’t long ago that prefrontal lobotomies — the gruesome procedure involving surgically severing connections in the brain — were widely accepted as mainstream psychiatric “treatment,” despite zero medical evidence of effectiveness. After thousands suffered devastating long-term effects, the world recognized the grave mistake and ended the abusive practice.
Fast-forward to today. So-called “gender-affirming” — or more accurately, sex-rejecting — interventions on minors use surgery to remove healthy body parts, injections of wrong-sex hormones, and administration of puberty blockers. All lead to irreversible consequences.
Loss of fertility, diminished bone density, chronic infections, sexual dysfunction, and interference with normal development are just a few of the adverse effects. For years, activists claimed without evidence that puberty blockers were safe, reversible, and lifesaving.
When a federally funded study designed to demonstrate benefits finds none, the case for routine use collapses. Independent reviews in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, and Norway have already led those countries to sharply restrict or abandon the practice.
Recent developments make the picture even clearer. The Trump administration, through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has finalized a rule ending federal Medicaid and CHIP funding for sex-rejecting procedures — puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries — on minors.
The government is following the science and protecting children. Private employers should do the same.
Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission alongside several states continues its lawsuit against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). The group, whose “Standards of Care” underpinned much coverage justification, has now argued in court that its guidance consists merely of “opinions” in a field of “intense medical debate” marked by “medical and scientific uncertainty.”
“THE SO-CALLED ‘STANDARDS OF CARE’ FOR GENDER DYSPHORIA PEDDLED BY WPATH AND USED TO JUSTIFY THE ABUSE OF CHILDREN JUST WENT UP IN SMOKE.”
Yet hundreds of major companies — at least 560 according to 1792 Exchange research — still treat these unproven interventions as standard benefits for minor dependents. They use shareholder resources and employee premiums to finance experimental medicalization with profound lifelong consequences.
Charles Schwab and Walmart removed coverage for these procedures on minors from their employee health plans. They recognized that facilitating permanent destruction of children’s bodies is neither evidence-based medicine nor sound corporate governance.
Every other company still funding these experiments on minors should follow suit immediately.
Corporations do not exist to advance radical ideologies — especially when children are the victims. They should focus on creating value for shareholders, serving customers, and supporting employee well-being, not underwriting medical experiments on minors.
The Olson-Kennedy study was funded to generate knowledge about how adults can best help children suffering from gender dysphoria. In a way, it did — by proving that subjecting children to these life-altering experimental treatments is not the way.
The data is public. The risks are real. The responsible path is clear: Stop funding these treatments for minors, return to evidence-based medicine, and let companies get back to business.
