Oregon judge blocks Trump move to restrict youth gender-affirming care

A federal judge in Oregon over the weekend issued a permanent block on some of the Trump administration's attempts to restrict funding for youth gender-affirming care.

The written decision comes about a month after Judge Mustafa Kasubhai ruled the federal government overreached when it published a declaration in December that warned doctors they could lose Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements if they provided such medical care.

"This is a resounding win for the rights of youth, their families, and the rule of law when it comes to medical care," state Attorney General Nick Brown said in a March statement after the court granted preliminary relief to health providers. "The court agrees that the administration ignored the law in its rush to deprive transgender youth of the health care they are legally entitled to."

Washington joined a coalition of 20 states and the District of Columbia in suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in late December. The lawsuit, filed in Oregon district court, also named Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the HHS inspector general as defendants.

Gender-affirming care for minors mostly includes puberty blockers, hormone treatment and mental health support, and rarely surgery. Most professional medical associations in the U.S. approve the care for young trans and gender-diverse patients - including the Pediatric Endocrine Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

In the 49-page opinion Saturday, Kasubhai granted the states' motion for summary judgment, and condemned the federal government's wanton" efforts to limit the care, which he found did not follow proper administrative procedures.

"Unserious leaders are unsafe," Kasubhai began. "This case highlights a leader's unserious regard for the rule of law."

The judge also denounced how quickly the health department took these actions, instead of giving patients and families time to seek other alternatives.

"Kennedy's utter failure to promulgate rules in accordance with statutory authority ... caused chaos and terror for all the people and institutions of our great nation," Kasubhai wrote.

The federal health department issued the declaration Dec. 18, asserting that some forms of gender-affirming care are "unsafe and ineffective," and that the declaration would supplant states' standards of care, including in states where the care remains legal.

Kasubhai noted the declaration and threats have already resulted in a number of gender clinic closures throughout the country. In Washington, one of them was Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma, which closed its gender clinic near the beginning of the year.

The judge's order now sets aside Kennedy's declaration and grants an injunction that prohibits the federal government from trying to supersede professionally recognized standards for gender-affirming care.

The ruling will also "protect health care providers and hospitals from the devastating effects of HHS's unlawful actions," Brown's office said in a Monday statement.

Also represented as plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin and the governor of Pennsylvania.

"Secretary Kennedy's unlawful declaration harmed children," Kasubhai wrote. "This case illustrates that when a leader acts without authority and in the absence of the rule of law, he acts with cruelty.

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