Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said the government should not restrict sex changes, arguing that «whole a–» doctors like himself should be allowed to make their own determinations for patients’ treatment plans.

The remarks came during El-Sayed’s Friday rally held at Michigan State University, during which the former Detroit Health Department head responded to a student’s question about protecting sex changes. Since launching his campaign, El-Sayed has flaunted that he is a «physician» and, if elected, he would be the first doctor to serve as a Democratic senator in 50 years. However, Fox News Digital previously reported El-Sayed has never held a medical license in Michigan or New York.

«I went to a whole a– medical school, everybody I graduated with also went to whole a– medical school,» El-Sayed said. «And then… they went to whole a– residency. Right? And some of them went to whole a– fellowship. They took whole a– exams to provide whole a– healthcare.»

DEM SENATE HOPEFUL’S ‘PHYSICIAN’ CAMPAIGN PITCH UNDER FIRE AFTER LICENSE RECORDS REVEAL KEY GAPS

«They are the experts that a patient wants to see when they seek care,» El-Sayed continued. «And the decision about what healthcare is necessary ought to be held between a patient — and or their parents if they’re under the age of 18 — and their doctor. That’s it.»

The remarks come as the Trump administration has made major strides in restricting minors’ access to «sex-rejecting» procedures, which include hormone therapy and surgeries.

Earlier this week, the Justice Department announced that Mount Sinai had joined other hospitals, like Texas Children’s Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Connecticut Children’s Hospital, to halt sex change procedures for children after reaching an agreement with the Trump administration.

MEDICAID ENDS FUNDING FOR CHILD SEX-CHANGE PROCEDURES AS TRUMP ADMIN SLAMS ‘EXPERIMENTAL’ TREATMENTS

El-Sayed has made the promise of «Medicare-for-all» — government-run healthcare — as the major selling point of his campaign; he said that even though the government will be covering the bill, it needs to stay out of the doctor’s decisions about a patient’s treatment plan.

«I don’t think the government gets to have a say about what healthcare is provided in what circumstances and why,» El-Sayed said. «And to me, that is the standard on which we decide how we make healthcare decisions.»

THE MEDICARE FOR ALL TRADE-OFFS SOCIALISTS AREN’T TALKING ABOUT, ACCORDING TO EXPERTS

A protester holds a sign in support of sex changes for transgender children outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on June 18, 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

«Not what the government says you can or can’t do, but what a patient and/or their parent, if they’re under 18, and their provider to decide. That’s the most important thing,» El-Sayed continued. «And there’s a lot of disinformation about us, what we’re talking about, when we talk about reproductive rights and when we’re talking about healthcare for the trans folks. But, in the end, the place where the rubber meets the rope is in that clinical room between a patient and a provider, and that to me is the center we should engage on.»

El-Sayed argued that Republicans agree with his belief that treatment decisions should be between a patient and their doctor, pointing to the Right to Try Act, which allows terminally ill patients to try experimental drug treatments that aren’t yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration after they have exhausted all other treatment options.

«Because conservatives fought for a very long time for this legislation called ‘Right to Try’ legislation, which is the idea that the government couldn’t tell you [that] you couldn’t have a certain medication,» El-Sayed said.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PROBE COULD UPEND WIDELY USED TRANSGENDER YOUTH TREATMENT GUIDELINES

A transgender rights supporter takes part in a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments in a case on transgender health rights in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 4, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

«So they agree that the decision about healthcare ought to be between the person and their provider. That’s it. So let’s use that standard, and keep to that standard, and make sure the government doesn’t have the ability to tell you what you can or cannot do with your own life,» El-Sayed said.

However, the research on the efficacy of treating individuals with gender dysphoria by allowing them to change sexes with «cross-sex» hormones and puberty blockers is limited.

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, whose guidelines are used by leading medical associations like the American Academy of Peditatrics, is currently facing a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission stemming from allegations that its guidelines misled parents about the «medical consensus and medical necessity, as well as the safety and effectiveness» of sex change procedures.

The FTC has accused WPATH of failing to disclose the side effects associated with some procedures, such as patients experiencing incontinence, erectile pain, mood disturbances, pelvic pain and vaginal pain stemming from «cross-sex» hormones.

Meanwhile, countries that have socialized medicine have put restrictions in place for minors seeking sex changes. In England, the National Health Service put a pause on «cross-sex» hormones for 16- and 17-year-olds in March after finding research was «really weak» to support it.

The country already had a ban in place restricting children under 16 years old from taking sex-change hormones.

El-Sayed’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment regarding his medical credentials.

Twenty-five years after a generation promised to «Never Forget,» that pledge now relies on education for the more than 100 million Americans with no memory of 9/11.

The Pentagon is preparing to help address that challenge by breaking ground this weekend on a long-awaited Visitor Education Center at the only one of the three 9/11 attack sites still without a dedicated museum or education center.

The new center is intended to fill the gap that has grown more pronounced with each passing year by helping Americans who never experienced the attacks understand not only what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, but why it continues to matter. 

Joseph Kornhoff, executive director of the Pentagon Memorial Fund, told Fox News Digital that nearly one-third of the country was either not alive that day or has no recollection of it and therefore lacks the «personal connection» shared by those who watched the attacks unfold.

NEW 9/11 MUSEUM EXHIBIT AIMS TO CONNECT YOUNGER AMERICANS TO THE ATTACKS THROUGH POWERFUL ARTIFACTS

«That’s what we’re trying to provide with the visitor education center experience,» Kornhoff said in an interview with Fox News Digital, explaining that the goal is to give visitors a personal connection that allows them to «start to understand the gravity of that day.»

Flowers lay on a bench at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, adjacent to the Pentagon, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, in Washington, DC, on September 9, 2026.  (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

Nearly 230 miles north, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York is confronting the same generational divide.

Beth Hillman, president and CEO of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, said the passage of time has only made the annual vow to «Never Forget» more important as the number of Americans with firsthand memories of the attacks declines.

«Many in my generation remember exactly where we were on that horrific day,» Hillman said during an Aug. 31 press preview outlining the museum’s plans for the 25th anniversary. «Yet, 100 million Americans were not even born or are too young to remember that day for themselves today.»

BROOKLYN TEACHERS WHO WITNESSED 9/11 AS CHILDREN REVEAL WHAT THEY WANT THE NEXT GENERATION TO REMEMBER

Noah Rauch, the museum’s senior vice president for education and public programs, said he has watched that transition unfold firsthand through the museum’s work with students and teachers. «I’ve seen this line creeping up between memory and history, between those who remembered the attacks and those who didn’t,» Rauch said during the Aug. 31 press event.

The United States is marking the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when a group of al-Qaeda hijackers flew airplanes into the World Trade Center, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people. (Jeenah Moon – Pool/Getty Images)

That transition from memory to history also raises a more modern challenge. Americans too young to remember the attacks are increasingly learning about an event they never experienced firsthand, while conspiracy theories and false narratives about 9/11 run rampant online.

Kornhoff said that makes factual education increasingly important, pointing specifically to conspiracy theories surrounding the attack on the Pentagon and narratives suggesting that America «deserved 9/11.»

«That’s the need for the education center,» Kornhoff told Fox News Digital. «As a nation, we need to really take a step back, look at how we’re educating our young children to make sure that we’re providing them with the facts of the situation … and not these conspiracy theories and entertaining wild ideas that just simply are not true.»

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: 9/11 IS JUST A HISTORY CHAPTER FOR A NEW GENERATION OF AMERICANS

Flowers and American flags rest beside inscribed names at a reflecting pool at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on Sept. 11, 2026, in New York City, as the nation commemorated the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (Jeenah Moon – Pool/Getty Images)

The Pentagon center will include 10 exhibits telling the human stories of the attack, including the 184 people killed at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77, the first responders who rushed to the scene and the military and civilian personnel who aided the wounded.

«We are going to address the facts of the day,» Kornhoff said. «We are going to address the entire Pentagon story.»

The renewed focus on 9/11 education has also reached Capitol Hill. Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., introduced bipartisan legislation ahead of the 25-year anniversary, which aims to direct the Department of Education to examine how 9/11 is taught in schools nationwide and identify gaps in instruction.

Kornhoff praised the effort during his interview with Fox News Digital, saying the legislation reflects a growing recognition of the need to educate generations with no firsthand connection to the attacks.

Stainless-steel benches dedicated to victims are seen at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Washington, DC, on September 10, 2026, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.  ((Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP via Getty Images))

The Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Visitor Education Center is expected to open by the end of 2029 near the existing Pentagon 9/11 Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

The project received $12 million in federal funding this year, along with $1 million from Virginia and additional private donations raised by the Pentagon Memorial Fund. Once completed, the center is expected to include interactive exhibits, historic artifacts and firsthand accounts from survivors and victims’ families while providing visitors with additional context about the attack and its aftermath.