HHS issues new 'sex-based definitions' following Trump executive orders

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Feb. 19 it has started to send out guidance on “clear sex-based definitions” to government agencies, outside organizations and the public.

The department said it is now implementing recent Trump administration executive orders on sex and gender. Trump’s executive orders on sex and gender have been praised in different statements issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for “recognizing the truth about each human person as male or female.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is seen at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee Jan. 29, 2025. HHS announced Feb. 20 it was implementing President Donald Trump’s executive orders “restoring the concept of biological truth in federal government.” (OSV News photo/Nathan Howard, Reuters)

HHS said it was implementing Trump’s executive order directing the government “to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”

HHS stated in its announcement that its new guidance “recognizes there are only two sexes: male and female.”

The new guidance defines a number of terms. It defines sex as a “person’s immutable biological classification as either male or female.” It defines female as “a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs (ova)” and male as “a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing sperm.”

HHS said the department would use these terms as the guiding definitions to “promote policies acknowledging that women are biologically female and men are biologically male.”

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

HHS also said it was implementing Trump’s executive order that the government “not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another.”

HHS stated it was taking steps to implement policies aimed at protecting minors from undergoing certain transgender medical and surgical interventions.

Additionally it stated it would implement Trump’s executive order effectively barring biological males who identify as transgender from taking part in women’s and girl’s sports.

Trump’s order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” stated that allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports is “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”

It went on to say, “It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”

OSV News reached out to the USCCB for comment regarding the new HHS directives, but did not receive an immediate response.