Lankford Protects Children from Federally Funded Gender Reassignment Research

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today joined Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) to introduce  the Protecting Our Kids from Harmful Research Act, a bill prohibiting federal funding of gender reassignment research on minors. These medical interventions are experimental, irreversible, and often fail to produce the intended effects. This bill would prohibit federal funding from being used in research or publications that seek to establish or affirm gender identities that are incongruent with a minor’s biological sex. Lankford and Lee are joined by Senators Mike Braun (R-IN) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) as cosponsors.

“Federal funding for healthcare research, especially research involving children, should be intended for prevention and treatment—not experimentation and politics,” said Lankford. “Our tax dollars should not be used to fund medically unnecessary hormone treatments or puberty blockers that could irreversibly damage the bodies of children, some of whom are younger than 10 years old. No one should have their lives permanently changed based on decisions made when they were 10 years old. It is our responsibility to protect our nation’s children.”

“The Federal Government should never fund research that harms kids,” said Lee. “This bill will protect taxpayers from funding spurious research, but more importantly, it will protect kids from the permanent damage this irresponsible research can produce.”

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Sexual and the Gender Minorities Research Office (SGMRO) has awarded grant money to four pediatric clinics to study hormonal interventions on children with healthy bodies as young as eight years old, which means that due to a feeling of discomfort, girls as young as eight could receive high-dose testosterone solely on the basis of their “gender identity” as a boy. The Biden Administration recently renewed and extended this research until 2026.

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