Earlier this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a memorandum to Department of Justice (DOJ) employees declaring in no uncertain terms that medical practitioners who “exploit and mutilate” children through transgender surgeries will be held accountable under the law. This announcement follows in the footsteps of Trump’s executive order affirming that there are only two genders – male and female – and another establishing that the United States will not “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.” Bondi’s memo is a step toward fulfilling that important promise.

“The Department of Justice will not sit idly by while doctors, motivated by ideology, profits, or both, exploit and mutilate our children. Under my watch, the Department will act decisively to protect our children and hold accountable those who mutilate them under the guise of care,” Bondi’s memo stated. “Pursuant to the President’s directive, I am issuing the following guidance to all Department of Justice employees to enforce rigorous protections and hold accountable those who prey on vulnerable children and their parents.”

Bondi outlined the complicity of the Biden administration in promoting the dangerous transgender ideology through hosting transgender activists at the White House on several occasions, appointing a transgender individual to serve as Assistant Secretary for Health, and opposing state-level bans on “gender-affirming care” for minors.

The administration also took four other significant steps toward righting the wrongs perpetrated under Democrat leadership:

• Bondi declared that the DOJ will “investigate and hold accountable medical providers and pharmaceutical companies that mislead the public about the long-term side effects of chemical and surgical mutilations.”
• The memo instructed the Office of Legal Affairs to “draft legislation creating a private right of action for children and the parents of children whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical professionals through chemical and surgical mutilation.”
• The DOJ ordered the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch to “undertake appropriate investigations of any violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by manufacturers and distributors engaged in misbranding by making false claims about the on- or off-label use of puberty blockers, sex hormones, or any other drug used to facilitate a child’s so-called ‘gender transition.’”
• The Trump administration also recently directed scientists at the National Institute of Health (NIH) to study the “regret” among destransitioners, both child and adult.

The Trump administration is making good on its promise to go above and beyond to protect children from the harms of the radical transgender movement, and we are incredibly thankful they are doing so. It’s refreshing to have an executive branch focused on protecting children from harm rather than promoting experimental and irreversible procedures for minors.

South Dakota was the first to attempt a prohibition on transgender procedures, but it wasn’t until 2023 that the legislature successfully passed a “Help Not Harm” bill, which was signed into law by Governor Kristi Noem. Today, at least 27 states have laws on the books that ban or restrict “gender-affirming care” for minors. Bondi’s memo and Trump’s other actions to combat transgender procedures for minors not only bolster our own laws but also protect millions of children in blue states that have no such provisions.

Last year, South Dakota joined an amicus brief alongside nine other states in the US Supreme Court case United States v. Skrmetti, arguing in support of Tennessee Attorney General Anthony Skrmetti that states not only have a right to protect children from medical mutilation, but a responsibility to do so. The Supreme Court’s decision in this case will determine if states like South Dakota can continue protecting children from radical, experimental transgender medication and procedures. The Court is expected to issue a ruling in June of this year.

Just four months in, we can already say that 2025 has been a year of incredible progress for America. Common sense is winning the day. We hope to see even more victories on this front in the months to come. Please join us in prayer that the US Supreme Court will affirm South Dakota’s right to protect our children from harm, and that the Trump administration will be effective in carrying out justice.