States sue Trump administration over access to care for transgender youths
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, seeks to have part of one executive order issued in January declared unconstitutional. The order targets gender-affirming care provided to people under the age of 19, such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgical procedures, which it refers to as 'mutilation.'
The lawsuit also asks the court to declare unlawful the Justice Department's targeting of providers of gender-affirming care.
The section of the order that is being challenged directs the Justice Department to use laws such as the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, those against female genital mutilation, and child custody legislation to carry out the administration's aims.
'It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another,' Trump's order says, calling the treatments 'a stain on our Nation's history.'
The states of Massachusetts, California, New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia and Josh Shapiro in his capacity as Pennsylvania governor, filed suit.
The lawsuit, filed against Trump, the Justice Department and Attorney General Pam Bondi, argues that the executive order conflicts with states' remit to regulate and police medicine and violates the 10th Amendment, which protects states' powers, and is in conflict with many state antidiscrimination laws.
Nearly every major medical association endorses the availability of gender-affirming care for transgender young people, citing reductions in depression, substance abuse and suicide attempts. 'Empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and nonbinary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression,' the American Medical Association has said.
But the issue, and others related to transgender people, has animated conservatives. Trump has said he wants the 'official policy of the United States' to be that there are only two genders and has referred to being transgender as a 'falsehood.'
The administration has moved to ban transgender service members from the military, relocate incarcerated transgender women into men's prisons and bar transgender people from using restrooms that align with their gender identity in federal buildings, among a slew of anti-trans measures, many of which have been challenged in court.
After the January order, the lawsuit says, the Justice Department began 'intimidating providers into ceasing care through threats of civil and criminal prosecution.'
'These threats have no basis in law,' the complaint says. 'No federal law prohibits, much less criminalizes, the provision or receipt of gender-affirming care for transgender adolescents.'
Puberty blockers temporarily inhibit sex hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone, and other hormone therapies introduce them to the body. Gender-affirming surgeries, such as breast reductions for transgender men, are rarely performed on minors.
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in an email that 'everyday Americans resoundingly support' the administration's actions. '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,' she added.
In June, the Supreme Court upheld a ban on gender-affirming care for minors in Tennessee.
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