Oversight Project Secures the Release of Transgender Study After Delay from NIH
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 28, 2026
Washington, D.C.– Last week, the Oversight Project received the final report of The Impact of Early Medical Treatment in Transgender Youth from the National Institutes of Health after an extended fight to obtain its release. After a decade of research supported by the federal government, the study concluded that there is no significant improvement in youth mental health after administering puberty blockers and “gender-affirming hormone therapy.”
The findings raise troubling aspects of the Transgender Industrial Complex and its interventions being provided to children and adolescents. Of particular concern are the ages of some study participants and the long-term consequences of treatments. Recruited participants are as young as eight years old and are subject to treatments that may have lifelong impacts on bone density, reproductive health, height, and even cognitive and emotional development. The long-term implications of these interventions, particularly when initiated at a young age, warrant public scrutiny.
The final report further contains the questionable goal of enrolling “additional youth of color” and “assigned male at birth” participants. The public deserves to understand why these demographic recruitment goals were incorporated into a federally funded study and how they relate to the study’s scientific objectives.
The release of this report is an important first step, but significant questions remain. The Oversight Project is calling for greater transparency regarding the study’s funding, methodology, recruitment, and conclusions, as well as a full accounting of the federal resources devoted to research in this area. The American people have a right to know why the federal government obligated $10 million over nearly a decade to study medical interventions for children and what policymakers, researchers, and medical institutions intend to do with the results.
Director of State Litigation Neal Cornett gave this statement:
“The final report confirms what anyone sensible would know—treating troubled youth with puberty blockers and hormone treatments does nothing to improve their mental health. What it does do is support a medical-industrial complex that must provide lifelong medical care to those who suffered from its harmful medical interventions. Every taxpayer should be furious that this research was encouraged and funded for the decade the Country lost its collective mind.”
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