BALTIMORE (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s recent executive order aimed at restricting gender-affirming health care for transgender people under age 19.
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The judge’s ruling came after a lawsuit was filed earlier this month on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children who allege their health care has already been compromised by the president’s order. A national group for families of LGBTQ+ people and a doctors organization are also plaintiffs in the court challenge, one of many lawsuits opposing a slew of executive orders Trump has issued as he seeks to reverse the policies of former President Joe Biden.
Judge Brendan Hurson, who was nominated by Biden, granted the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order following a hearing in federal court in Baltimore. The ruling, in effect for 14 days, essentially puts Trump’s directive on hold while the case proceeds. The restraining order could also be extended.
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That means medical institutions can’t have their federal funding pulled because they provide gender-affirming care services.
The restraining order is nationwide in scope and will apply to institutions across the country. Attorneys for the government didn’t indicate whether they plan to appeal it.
Shortly after taking office, Trump signed an executive order directing federally run insurance programs to exclude coverage for such services. That includes Medicaid, which covers gender-affirming care in some states, and TRICARE for military families. Trump also signed an earlier executive order that narrowly defined the sexes as male and female while commanding that federal funds “shall not be used to promote gender ideology.”
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The lawsuit includes several accounts from families of appointments being canceled as medical institutions react to the new directive.
Some hospitals immediately paused gender-affirming care, including prescriptions for puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
Those immediate impacts were a main focus of the hearing Thursday afternoon when Hurson repeatedly asked attorneys on both sides to discuss the risks associated with allowing Trump’s orders to take full effect and continue limiting health care access.
Hurson directly challenged the assertion that the president’s goal is to protect transgender youth.
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“The order seems to deny that this population even exists, or deserves to exist,” Hurson said, noting that transgender people already face a statistically elevated risk of suicide, poverty, addiction, and other hardships.
Disrupting their health care out of the blue could cause them “irreparable harm,” the judge said in announcing his ruling.
Attorneys for the government argued that Trump, through his orders, was simply directing federal agencies to take lawful steps to carry out his policy preferences.
They said the orders weren’t aimed at restricting healthcare access for transgender youth, but rather a decision from the president on how his administration would distribute federal funding.
But the plaintiffs’ attorneys said the orders are “unlawful and unconstitutional” because they violate antidiscrimination laws while infringing on the rights of parents.
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