The Trump administration has directed the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to begin a research initiative to study “regret” among individuals who undergo so-called gender-transition treatments.

In March, the White House canceled multiple NIH grants involving gender identity along with diversity, equity and inclusion. Now, the administration is ordering the NIH to resume some transgender research but with the goal of examining the potential negative consequences the hormonal and surgical treatments can have.

Theresa Farnan, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, discussed with CNA why this research is needed to help individuals who experience regret after transitioning treatments.

Farnan said many people who report negative consequences after medical gender transitions were already struggling with a mental-health issue, trauma or a form of autism before they transitioned. She said they are often “not really presented with alternative explanations for their feelings or less invasive treatments.”

She explained that when transitioners do feel regret, “it is nearly impossible, outside of a few dedicated physicians (many of whom are Catholic or Christian physicians), to find a doctor who will supervise the process of detransitioning from hormones.”

“This research should Illuminate the need for ongoing medical care addressing the needs of detransitioners and insurance coverage,” Farnan continued, saying she hopes it will reveal “the damaging effect of social transition, which is misleadingly presented as a period of exploration but in reality locks children into a ‘transgender’ identity.”

Farnan said she anticipates that “the NIH research will be vigorously opposed by the gender clinic industry.”

“The last thing they want is a spotlight on what really goes on in gender clinics. Detransitioners are compelling witnesses to the unethical and dangerous nature of this industry,” she said.

Catholic deacon and retired medical doctor Patrick Lappert told CNA that during his time as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, he performed multiple reversal surgeries on people who experienced regret after transitioning.

“The regret itself, the emotional, psychological process the person has endured … deserves a lot of examination and support,” he said. “The NIH can definitely get involved in the research of what is in the long-term.”

Lappert specified that the NIH research should examine the long-term effects of medications and surgeries that he said “we have little to no information” on. He said this includes puberty blockers, high-dose cross-sex steroids, fertility harms, heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes.

He explained that if there is research to help further understand these issues, “we will better serve the persons who are detransitioning.” Then the next steps can be “research into surgical techniques for, in some measure, reversing the effects of the surgery,” he said.

Lappert said Europe has conducted research on gender ideology and transitioning, especially with children, and found that the process “does not help; it hurts.”

“It’s a result because the Europeans have a medical database that can be examined and you can see the long-term effects,” he said. “The American process of practicing medicine has a lot of scattered medical records. Everybody keeps their own records, hospital systems, medical systems. It’s very hard to interrogate that.”

Dr. Roy Eappen, a senior fellow at Do No Harm, told CNA that he views the new NIH research initiative as “a huge step towards dismantling and exposing the lies propping up the transgender industry.”

“For too long the United States avoided asking the real questions surrounding sex-change issues, and it’s because transgender activists in leadership positions … didn’t want them to be asked,” Eappen said.

“Meanwhile, Europe conducted studies into these harmful practices and subsequently abandoned them due to the lack of scientific support,” he said.

The Trump administration and the NIH have not yet released specific details pertaining to the research or how it will be conducted.