Fifteen states, a governor, and the District of Columbia sued President Donald Trump on Aug. 1 over his executive order targeting breast removal and other gender transition procedures for minors.
Massachusetts and the other plaintiffs said in the lawsuit that Trump’s order and resulting actions by the Department of Justice (DOJ) illegally target people who identify as transgender, as well as people who provide care for those individuals.
The suit highlights section eight of Trump’s January order, in which he directed the attorney general to prioritize enforcement of federal law against female genital mutilation, coordinate with attorneys general on enforcement of the law, and prioritize investigations into states that have laws enabling the removal of custody from parents who oppose their children undergoing gender transition procedures.
“This Court should declare Section 8 of the Denial of Care Order unconstitutional, vacate and set aside the two final agency actions that flow from that section, declare that the provision of medically necessary care to adolescents subject to the requirements of a state’s regulatory system is lawful, and enjoin enforcement of Section 8 of the Denial of Care Order and of the two DOJ directives,” the plaintiffs said.
They filed the suit in federal court in Massachusetts.
“Medically necessary health care for transgender youth saves lives, and those health care decisions should be made by patients, families, and their providers—not by politicians,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement. “I will continue to fight back against illegal policies that harm our residents and violate their rights.”
The order has faced other lawsuits. In one, a federal judge blocked the order except for section eight, finding that plaintiffs had not encountered prosecution and thus lacked standing to challenge the section. In another, a separate judge blocked the government from terminating federal funding under certain portions of the order, but also did not block section eight.
The DOJ has since taken several actions to carry out its duties under the order, including, in July, issuing subpoenas to clinics and doctors that have performed breast removal and other gender transition procedures on children.
“Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement at the time.
The White House said in a statement on July 25 that Trump “promised to end child sexual mutilation” and that he has delivered on that promise. Officials pointed to how a number of institutions have announced ending gender transition procedures, including Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Penn State Health.
The attorneys general and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in the new suit that the actions taken by the Trump administration have intimidated providers but do not have a legal basis.
“No federal law prohibits, much less criminalizes, the provision or receipt of gender-affirming care for transgender adolescents,” they said. “Furthermore, these actions interfere with weighty state interests. Specifically, the regulation of medicine is a core traditional police power belonging to the States and protected by the Tenth Amendment. Yet through the challenged actions, the Defendants seek to trammel on State power and eliminate this care, even in those States where such care is supported, and indeed protected, by law.”
The state officials are asking the court to rule that providing such procedures can be done if providers arrive at a “good faith medical judgement” and that the procedures do not violate the law against female genital mutilation.
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