USA: HHS issues guidance recognising only 2 sexes in one of Kennedy's first moves at health agency

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will define sex as an "immutable biological classification" and only recognise two sexes, male and female, according to guidance issued this week.

The guidance builds on President Donald Trump's executive order that instructed the federal government to officially recognize only a person's sex at birth and to stop recognizing the concept of gender identity. The HHS released the guidance to the U.S. government, external partners and the public.

"The guidance recognizes there are only two sexes: male and female. HHS will use these definitions and promote policies acknowledging that women are biologically female and men are biologically male," officials said Wednesday in a press release issued by HHS.

RFK Jr. assumed his role as HHS secretary last week, and the guidance marks one of his first policy moves.

“This administration is bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government,” RFK Jr. said in a statement. "The prior administration’s policy of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics is one medical organization that recognizes not everyone fits into the narrow definitions of male or female.

In a fact sheet released this month, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine wrote that legislation and proposals "to define sex into two easily determined categories are unsupported by science and oversimplify the intricate nature of human biology."

"It is crucial to understand that biological sex is determined by biology, not politics," ASRM wrote.

Major medical groups also support gender-affirming care for transgender individuals, which is comprised of a range of social, behavioral and medical interventions, the latter of which include puberty-blocking medications, hormone treatments and, in rarer cases, surgical procedures.

Read full story

Source: Fierce Healthcare, 19 February 2025