Attorneys General: Trump Admin.’s Changes to Gender-Affirming Care are Illegal

“These changes have been touted by Defendants as precisely what was intended by their unlawful and disingenuous targeting: the end of healthcare for transgender individuals under 19,” the complaint reads. 

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More than a dozen attorneys general have filed a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration decision to limit gender-affirming care for people under the age of 19.

The complaint was filed earlier this week by a coalition of Democratic prosecutors, led my New York State Attorney General Letitia James. In court documents, James and her colleagues claim that the federal government is trying to enact a nationwide ban on gender-affirming therapy by threatening non-complaint health care providers with “baseless criminal charges.”

“The federal government is running a cruel and targeted harassment campaign against providers who offer lawful, lifesaving care to children,” James said in a statement.

“This administration is ruthlessly targeting young people who already face immense barriers just to be seen and heard, and are putting countless lives at risk in the process,” she said. “In New York and nationwide, we will never stop fighting for the dignity, safety, and basic rights of the transgender community.”

A spokesperson for the Trump administration told FOX News that the president’s stance on gender is aligned with that of most Americans.

“On Day One, President Trump took decisive action to stop the despicable mutilation and chemical castration of children – which everyday Americans resoundingly support,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said. “The President has the lawful authority to protect America’s vulnerable children through executive action, and the Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on this issue.”

One of the Trump administration’s most controversial decisions on gender-affirming care was issued by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who issued a memo seeking the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute doctors who provide gender-affirming care to people under the age of 19.

“These changes have been touted by Defendants as precisely what was intended by their unlawful and disingenuous targeting: the end of healthcare for transgender individuals under 19,” the complaint reads.

“The threat of attacking the health care of young people and adults has already caused harm here in New York state and beyond,” said The Sylvia Rivera Law Project in a statement published to the Office of the New York Attorney General’s website. “This intimidation is causing confusion to medical providers and threatening criminalization, when providers have been following WPATH standards of care for decades since it was founded in 1978. We support the autonomy and decision-making of youth and their supportive families and communities in our healthcare access. We want to affirm parents and families who are supporting trans youth in accessing the necessary care that is needed to meet our survival and self-determination.”

The co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the governor of Pennsylvania.

Sources

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