Families say Trump administration violates court order on youth gender treatments
Source: Reuters
March 7, 2025 7:58 PM EST Updated 12 hours ago
March 7 (Reuters) - Families of transgender teens and LGBT advocacy groups on Friday said that U.S. health agencies had violated a court ruling that blocked them from enforcing President Donald Trump's executive order halting federal funding to healthcare providers that offer gender transition treatments to people under 19.
The plaintiffs said the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services violated the ruling by issuing a memo to healthcare providers on Wednesday that it "may consider" terminating federal grants if they provide transgender healthcare to minors, including puberty blockers, hormones or surgery for the purpose of gender transition. Two other health agencies also sent out the memo, which used the same title as Trump's order, Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation, on Thursday.
The CMS memo came the day after U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson in Greenbelt, Maryland blocked the administration from cutting off funds to healthcare providers to enforce Trump's order, or another executive order barring the use of federal funds to "promote gender ideology." Hurson extended his earlier temporary ruling for as long as the lawsuit is pending. The plaintiffs said on Friday that the new memos attempted to get around Hurson's order by telling providers that funding may be cut off in the future, rather than cutting it off immediately, but would nonetheless immediately harm families by intimidating hospitals into stopping the treatments.
"That conditional phrasing changes nothing," the plaintiffs said in their motion. "The notices are designed to inflict on plaintiffs precisely the same immediate harm as the Executive Orders in precisely the same way: through the (renewed) threat of revocation of funding." They asked Hurson to enforce his earlier ruling by ordering the agencies to withdraw the memo.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/families-say-trump-administration-violates-court-order-youth-gender-treatments-2025-03-08/
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