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A group of 19 Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over a declaration seeking to restrict gender transition treatment for minors.
The lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and its inspector general comes after the statement released last week describing treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender transition surgeries as dangerous and ineffective for children with gender dysphoria.
The statement also warns doctors that they could be excluded from federal health programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, if they provide these treatments to minors.
The move aims to build on President Donald Trump’s January executive order calling on HHS to protect children from “chemical and surgical mutilation.”
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The complaint was filed against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and its inspector general. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)
“We are taking six decisive actions guided by gold standard science and President Trump’s week one executive order to protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation,” Kennedy said at a news conference last week.
HHS also proposed new rules intended to further block gender transition treatment for minors, although the lawsuit does not address the rules, which have not yet been finalized.
The states’ complaint, filed Tuesday in Eugene, Oregon, claims the statement is inaccurate and illegal and urges the court to prevent its enforcement.
“Secretary Kennedy cannot unilaterally change medical standards by posting a document online, and no one should lose access to medically necessary health care because his federal government attempted to interfere in decisions that belong to doctors’ offices,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the lawsuit, said in a statement.
The lawsuit claims the statement attempts to pressure providers to end gender transition treatment for youth and circumvent legal requirements for policy changes. The complaint states that federal law requires that the public be informed and given an opportunity to comment before making substantial changes to health policy, and that neither of these steps was taken before the statement was issued.
The HHS decision aims to build on President Donald Trump’s January executive order calling on HHS to protect children from “chemical and surgical mutilation.” (Tom Brenner for the Washington Post via Getty Images)
The statement based its findings on a peer-reviewed report the department completed earlier this year that called for a greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than general gender transition treatment for minors with gender dysphoria.
The report raised questions about standards for treating transgender children issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and raised concerns that young people might be too young to give consent to treatments that could change their lives and lead to future infertility.
Major medical groups and doctors who treat transgender children criticized the report as inaccurate.
HHS also announced two proposed federal rules last week — one to cut off federal Medicaid and Medicare funding for hospitals that provide gender transition treatments to children, and another to prevent federal Medicaid money from being used for these procedures.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James led the lawsuit against the Trump administration. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The proposals have not yet been finalized and are not legally binding, as they must go through a lengthy process of rulemaking and public comment before they can be implemented.
Several major medical providers have already backed away from gender transition treatments for young people since Trump’s return to office, even those in Democratic-led states where the procedures are legal under state law.
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Medicaid programs in just under half of states currently cover gender transition treatment. At least 27 states have passed laws restricting or banning this treatment, and this year’s Supreme Court decision upholding Tennessee’s ban likely means other state laws will remain in effect.
The Democratic attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington, and Washington, D.C., as well as the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, joined James in the lawsuit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
