The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) plans to “phase out” the distribution of chemical castration drugs to trans-identifying veterans, the agency announced on Monday.
“All eligible Veterans – including trans-identified Veterans – will always be welcome at VA and will always receive the benefits and services they’ve earned under the law. But if Veterans want to attempt to change their sex, they can do so on their own dime,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement.
According to an agency press release, VA will no longer offer so-called “cross-sex hormone therapy” to retired service members “who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria.” Eligible members who “are already receiving such care from VA” or “were receiving such care from the military as part of and upon their separation from military service and they are eligible for VA health care” are exempt from the directive.
VA disclosed that veterans who fail to meet such criteria “are not eligible for cross-sex hormone therapy through VA health care,” and that the agency “will not provide any other medical or surgical therapy for gender dysphoria to any patients in any circumstance.” “Any and all savings” garnered from the VA’s cessation of the aforementioned services will be “redirected” toward “severely injured VA beneficiaries.”
“VA has not kept consistent and reliable records regarding the total number of Veterans who endured these procedures, the total amount of money spent on them or the total number of employees involved,” the department said. “Veterans Health Administration estimates indicate that less than one tenth of one percent of the 9.1 million Veterans enrolled in VA health care are trans-identified.”
While VA maintains that it has “never offered sex-change surgeries,” a Monday report by The Daily Wire reveals how, under the Biden administration, the agency seemingly skirted existing guidelines prohibiting so-called “gender alterations” in order to “provide procedures designed to help people present as the opposite sex.” The documents obtained by the outlet reportedly show how the Biden-led agency “provided prosthetic penises … as well as prosthetics designed to look like breasts, chest binders, wigs, and dilators for fake vaginas.”
VA’s issuance of such services and devices were authorized under Veterans Health Administration Directive 1341(4), which has since been rescinded, according to the agency.
Monday’s announcement comes as part of VA’s compliance with a Jan. 20 executive order issued by President Donald Trump. That directive unequivocally states that, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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