The Trump administration is being sued by 19 states over the announcement to restrict the administration of gender reassignment
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A group of states led by 19 Democrats and Washington, DC, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for a decree that aims to limit the management of gender reassignment for minors.
The lawsuit against the US Department of Health and Human Services, its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and its inspector general comes after an announcement issued last week describing treatments such as anti-puberty, hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery as unsafe and ineffective for children with gender dysphoria.
The announcement also warned doctors that they could be excluded from government health programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, if they provide these treatments to children.
The move is intended to build on President Donald Trump’s order in January asking HHS to protect children from “chemical and surgical mutilation.”
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The lawsuit was filed by the US Department of Health and Human Services, its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and its inspector general. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)
“We are taking six major steps led by gold standard science and one week President Trump’s executive order to protect children from chemical mutilation and surgery,” Kennedy said at a press conference last week.
HHS is also proposing new rules designed to further ban sex-reassignment treatment for minors, although the lawsuit does not address the rules, which have yet to be finalized.
The state’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Eugene, Oregon, says the proclamation is unfair and illegal and is asking the court to block its implementation.
“Secretary Kennedy cannot single-handedly change medical standards by putting a document online, and no one should lose access to medically necessary health care because their federal government tried to interfere with decisions in doctors’ offices,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the case, in a statement.
The lawsuit alleges that the announcement attempts to pressure providers to stop gender reassignment treatment for young people and avoid legal requirements for policy changes. The complaint said that federal law requires that the public be given notice and an opportunity to comment before amending the health policy, and that none of this was done before the announcement was made.
The HHS move seeks to build on President Donald Trump’s order in January asking HHS to protect children from “chemical and surgical mutilation.” (Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The announcement is based on its conclusions in a peer-reviewed report the department commissioned earlier this year that called for more reliance on behavioral therapy instead of gender-changing treatment for children with gender dysphoria.
The report raised questions about the standards for the treatment of transgender children issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and raised concerns that young people may be too young to give consent to life-altering treatment that could result in future infertility.
Major medical groups and doctors who treat transgender children have condemned the report as inaccurate.
HHS also announced last week two proposed federal rules – one to cut off federal Medicaid and Medicare funding to hospitals that provide transgender treatment to children, and the other to block federal Medicaid funds from being used for these procedures.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James led the charge against the Trump administration. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The proposals are not yet finalized and not legally binding, as they must go through a lengthy process of rulemaking and public comment before they can be implemented.
Many major medical providers have already backed away from sex-reassignment treatment for teenagers since Trump returned to office, even those in Democrat-led states where the procedures are legal under state law.
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Just under half of states’ Medicaid programs currently cover gender reassignment treatment. At least 27 states have passed laws banning or banning the treatment, and a Supreme Court decision this year upholding Tennessee’s ban likely means some state laws will remain in place.
Democratic attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington state and Washington, DC, as well as the Pennsylvania Democrat governor, joined James in the lawsuit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
