Barr sends cease & desist over ad calling children’s hospitals ‘mutilation factories’

The U.S. Senate campaign of Rep. Andy Barr is seeking to remove an ad equating a 2013 vote to fund medical residency programs to funding “gender mutilation factories.”

The ad was posted to social media by David McIntosh, the president of Club For Growth. The group and its affiliate PAC, Win it Back PAC, has been running ads against Barr since before he got into the race.

The most recent ad kicks off with the sentiment that children’s hospitals “should heal, not harm our kids,” but takes a turn.

“But Andy Barr voted to give federal funding to hospitals that perform sex changes on children,” the ad claims. “With surgical precision, Barr voted to transition hard-earned tax dollars from your wallet into the bank accounts of gender mutilation factories, turning boys into girls and girls into boys.”

The Barr team’s cease and desist letter sent Friday calls the claims “patently false and grossly misleading,” as well as defamatory. They seek the removal of the ad and preservation of all records related to the ad’s creation and dissemination. Barr’s attorney, Sloane Carlough of Lexington firm Dickinson Wright, wrote that legal action could be taken if the PAC persists.

So far, the ad has only been shared on social media and is not on television.

In a statement to the Herald-Leader, Club for Growth responded to the letter by pointing out at least two hospitals in the country, Boston Children’s Hospital and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, have been performing gender-reassignment surgeries on minors since 2007 and 2014, respectively.

“Andy Barr and his supporters will do anything to distract from the fact that he voted so that federal funds could go to hospitals that perform sex change surgeries on children, and we are very confident that any court would agree,” McIntosh wrote in a statement.

Barr is one of several Kentuckians running to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is not seeking reelection in 2026. Alongside former Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Lexington tech entrepreneur Nate Morris, Barr is one of three prominent Republicans in the race.

The vote used to inform the ad’s content had nothing explicitly to do with gender transition surgeries or any gender-affirming care, and most Republicans voted for it. The bill aimed to reauthorize federal support for Graduate Medical Education, also known as residency, which is generally required for medical students to gain long-term employment as doctors.

The legislation authorized about $330 million a year for those programs. It passed in the House by a 352-50 vote. The majority of Republicans voted for it and all Democrats but one supported it.

Now a hot topic in American politics, particularly conservative circles, cracking down on gender transition services, like surgery and hormone therapy, was not a major talking point in 2013. Carlough pointed that out in her letter.

“H.R. 297… had nothing to do with providing federal funding to support sex changes in minors. In fact, the text of the bill does not contain any provisions or references to gender affirming care, including but not limited to hormone therapy, puberty blockers, or surgical interventions,” Carlough wrote.

More likely is many in the GOP, inspired by the still-active “Tea Party” movement, were voting against spending money while the deficit continued to grow. Rep. Thomas Massie, once a strong tea party adherent, was the lone “no” vote among Kentucky’s five Republicans and single Democrat. Current Reps. Brett Guthrie and Hal Rogers voted for it.

Barr spokesperson Alex Bellizzi called the ad “a disgusting and outrageous lie.”

“This anti-Trump PAC ad is a disgusting, outrageous lie. The 2013 law cited in the ad funded medical education programs for graduate students, not sex change operations or puberty-blocking drugs for minors. Andy Barr continues to cosponsor legislation banning federal funds from going to sex change operations for minors. This anti-Trump PAC will waste millions of dollars on garbage ads like this just like they did to try and defeat President Donald Trump in 2024,” Bellizzi wrote.

In responding to the contents of various ads against him, Barr and his team have pointed out that Club for Growth and President Donald Trump, the party’s standard bearer, have often been at odds.

Dating back to 2016 and continuing during Trump’s third presidential campaign, the group and organizations linked to it have sought to stymie his political rise.

Still, the anti-tax group is well-funded and has a record of providing Republicans with the fiscal firepower needed to win elections.

The surgeries referenced in the ad do not take place in Kentucky, and were explicitly outlawed in a 2023 bill banning all gender-affirming care for minors in the state. There is no evidence the “gender mutilation” surgeries referenced in the ad have taken place in the commonwealth, with the University of Kentucky stating only “a small number of non-genital gender reassignment surgeries on minors, such as mastectomies for older adolescents,” had been performed there prior to the 2023 bill.

The Kentucky Hospital Association wrote in a statement Thursday to the Herald-Leader confirming the surgeries were not taking place in the state.

“Hospitals in Kentucky do not perform gender transition surgeries on minors. In fact, KRS 311.372 specifically prohibits these types of procedures. Any suggestion to the contrary is not correct,” wrote Jim Musser, senior vice president at the Kentucky Hospital Association.

The campaign also shared a statement from Riley Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer who has risen to conservative fame for railing against transgender women’s participation in women’s sports. She has endorsed Barr in the race.

“Andy Barr has been a champion for girls, women, and families against the radical transgender movement. That’s why I’ve endorsed Andy to be Kentucky’s next U.S. Senator,” Gaines wrote.

This story was originally published September 19, 2025 at 4:28 PM.

Austin Horn

Lexington Herald-Leader

706-571-8597

Austin Horn is a politics reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He previously worked for the Frankfort State Journal and National Public Radio. Horn has roots in both Woodford and Martin Counties.