States Sue HHS Over Attempt to Curtail Gender Affirming Care for Minors

Following Secretary Kennedy’s announcement that the Trump administration would cut Medicare and Medicaid funding from medical providers that prescribe gender affirming care to transgender youth, nineteen Democrat–led states have sued the Department of Health and Human Services in an effort to block the action. They say this attempt on behalf of the administration to unilaterally cut care is an unlawful overreach of federal power and would be harmful to transgender youth.

The policy, described by the Dep of HHS as an effort to end federal association with organizations that provide “sex–rejecting procedures” (which the department defines as puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy, or gender–affirming surgery), would block the use of Medicare or Medicaid funding at medical institutions that provide that care. Almost every hospital and care provider in the country participates in Medicare and Medicaid, and per the American Hospital Association, the programs pay for at least half of inpatient stays at 96% of facilities. Because hospitals and healthcare providers rely on this funding to function, this policy by the HHS amounts to an almost complete ban on youth gender affirming care.

The HHS says that this action is a continuation of the Trump administration’s executive order, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” in which the White House outlined how it would work to end youth gender affirming care. Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign saw transgender rights become a key issue of the election. The Trump campaign spent tens of millions of dollars on advertisements attacking former vice president Kamala Harris, his opponent, for being in support of transgender individuals. Trump’s campaign sought to capitalize on what was quickly becoming a divisive issue among the American public—and his administration is now making good on his campaign promises to enforce a total ban on the medical transition of transgender minors.

This action by the Dep of HHS is one of many attempts through which the Republican controlled government is aiming to stop transgender youth from receiving care. The same week HHS announced its policy, the House voted in favor of a bill that would criminalize the prescription of gender–affirming medications and the performing of surgery, as well as a bill that would block the use of Medicaid funding to provide gender–affirming care to minors.

27 states have already enacted partial or total bans on minor gender affirming care. Around half of transgender youth in the United States live in a state in which they are not able to access care. Because of this, many have fled to trans sanctuary states on the West Coast or in New England to continue receiving care. This ban by the HHS would threaten the availability of care even to those in states that have passed “shield” legislation that explicitly protects the rights of transgender individuals and families to access care within those states. 

Most major medical associations continue to agree that medical intervention through youth gender affirming care is safe and medically necessary. Previous attempts to ban care have been met with strong statements denouncing these efforts from virtually every leading organization, including the AMA(American Medical Association), which called attempts to ban care a “dangerous intrusion of government,” the AAP(American Academy of Pediatrics), and the APA(American Psychological Association).

The nineteen states suing the federal government are New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington and Pennsylvania. The District of Columbia also joined the suit. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading the suit, said in a statement, “Secretary Kennedy cannot unilaterally change medical standards by posting a document online, and no one should lose access to medically necessary health care because their federal government tried to interfere in decisions that belong in doctors’ offices.”

Read more here:

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• Maya Goldman, Axios

• The White House

• Bill Barrow, Associated Press

• Melody Schreiber, The Guardian

• Camila DeChalus, CNN

• Lindsey Dawson & Jennifer Yates, KFF

• Movement Advancement Project

• American Medical Association

• American Academy of Pediatrics

• American Psychological Association

• Letitia James, New York State Attorney General