A federal judge just slammed the brakes on enforcement of President Donald Trump's executive order banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth under 19 years old.
Judge Brendan Hurson's nationwide order temporarily blocks federal agencies from stripping funding from medical providers who offer gender-affirming care.
"Good and decent parents of transgender kids should never be in the frightening position of having their child's prescribed, medically necessary care canceled at the whim and threat of a politician," said Brian K. Bond, CEO of PFLAG National. "Today's decision rights a grievous wrong to our nation's families and children."
Signed on Jan. 28, Trump's executive order cut off federal funding for gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Within days, hospitals in Massachusetts, Maryland, Washington, Colorado and Virginia stopped care for transgender patients under 19, triggering widespread protests.
On Feb. 4, the ACLU, Lambda Legal and others sued on behalf of transgender youth and their families, arguing Trump's executive order trampled constitutional rights. They claim it violates the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
"The president's orders sought to take away from transgender young people the very care that they, their families, and their medical providers all agree is best for them—medical care that is evidence-based and well-established. But these decisions are for patients, their families, and their doctors to make, not for politicians or Washington bureaucrats," Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior counsel at Lambda Legal, said. "As today's decision makes clear, the president does not have the power to unilaterally condition federal funding by requiring discrimination."
The ruling forces federal agencies to restore withheld funds and immediately inform institutions about the restraining order.
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