On Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services released guidance updating the department’s definitions of sex, declaring as Trump had done in an earlier executive order that "there are only two sexes, female and male."
The guidance stated that the updates came in response to the "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government" executive order, which was signed on Trump’s first day in office.
"There are only two sexes, female and male, because there are only two types of gametes," the guidance stated. "An individual human is either female or male based on whether the person is of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs (ova) or sperm."
The department stated that the sex of a human is "determined genetically at conception" and a person’s sex is "unchangeable and determined by objective biology."
"The use of hormones or surgical interventions does not change a person’s sex because such actions do not change the type of gamete that the person’s reproductive system has the biological function to produce. Rare disorders of sexual development do not constitute a third sex because these disorders do not lead to the production of a third gamete."
"The Department has long recognized that the biological differences between females and males require sex-specific practices in medicine and research to ensure optimal health outcomes and rigorous research, including by considering sex as a biological variable. Recognizing the immutable and biological nature of sex is essential to ensure the protection of women’s health, safety, private spaces, sports, and opportunities.
"Restoring biological truth to the Federal government is critical to scientific inquiry, public safety, morale, and trust in government itself."
Female is defined as "a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs ova)," and male is a defined as "a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing sperm."
A woman is defined as "an adult human female" while a man is defined as "an adult human male." This comes after many within the Biden administration could not answer the question of "what is a woman," including Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom Biden nominated for the Supreme Court.
