WASHINGTON — A temporary restraining order was issued by a federal judge on Thursday, halting President Donald Trump’s recent executive order that aimed to limit gender-affirming health care for transgender individuals under 19 years old.
The judge’s decision came in response to a lawsuit filed earlier in the month on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children. These families claimed that the president’s order had already negatively impacted their access to health care. In addition to these families, a national organization supporting LGBTQ+ individuals and a group of doctors are also part of the plaintiffs challenging the executive order, which is one of several orders issued by Trump as he works to undo the policies of former President Joe Biden.
Judge Brendan Hurson, who was appointed by Biden, approved the plaintiffs’ request for the temporary restraining order after a hearing held in federal court in Baltimore. This ruling effectively suspends Trump’s directive while the legal proceedings continue.
Trump’s executive order “seems to deny that this population even exists, or deserves to exist,” Hurson said.
Shortly after taking office, Trump signed an executive order directing federally run insurance programs to exclude coverage for gender-affirming care. That includes Medicaid, which covers such services in some states, and TRICARE for military families. Trump’s order also called on the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue litigation and legislation to oppose the practice.
The lawsuit includes several accounts from families of appointments being canceled as medical institutions react to the new directive.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue Trump’s executive order is “unlawful and unconstitutional” because it seeks to withhold federal funds previously authorized by Congress and because it violates anti-discrimination laws while infringing on the rights of parents.
Like legal challenges to state bans on gender-affirming care, the lawsuit also alleges the policy is discriminatory because it allows federal funds to cover the same treatments when they’re not used for gender transition.
Some hospitals immediately paused gender-affirming care, including prescriptions for puberty blockers and hormone therapy, while they assess how the order affects them.
Trump’s approach on the issue represents an abrupt change from the Biden administration, which sought to explicitly extend civil rights protections to transgender people. Trump has used strong language in opposing gender-affirming care, asserting falsely that “medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex.”
Major medical groups such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics support access to gender-affirming care.
Young people who persistently identify as a gender that differs from their sex assigned at birth are first evaluated by a team of professionals. Some may try a social transition, involving changing a hairstyle or pronouns. Some may later also receive puberty blockers or hormones. Surgery is extremely rare for minors.
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