Democratic Ags Win Second Court Ruling Against Trump's Order On Gender-affirming Care

A second federal judge has blocked enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order threatening the federal funding of hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to teenagers.

U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King in Seattle — a Joe Biden appointee — sided Friday with the Democratic attorneys general of Washington state, Oregon and Minnesota who had sued to restore access to health services for transgender patients 19 years and younger. The services were disrupted by the administration’s “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” executive order.

The attorneys general argued that Trump’s order discriminates against patients on the basis of their sex and intrudes on states’ power to regulate medical care, putting their residents at risk.

“If the Order stands, transgender children will die,” they warned in their lawsuit. “Whatever interest the federal government may have in cutting off treatment to transgender kids during the pendency of this case pales in comparison to Plaintiffs’ irreparable harm.”

King issued a temporary restraining order one day after a federal judge in Maryland did the same in response to a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and Lambda Legal on behalf of impacted transgender teenagers and their families.

While some hospitals around the country that had suspended appointments for gender-affirming care in light of the executive order have resumed services for teenagers, others said they were still reviewing the court orders or did not respond to inquiries about their compliance.

With the outcome of both cases still unknown, ACLU senior counsel Josh Block told POLITICO he is frustrated by what he sees as hospitals’ “premature buckling under the threat of this vague order” from the Trump administration, and noted that no hospital has yet challenged the policy in court.

“It's the patients that are being forced to bring these lawsuits because the hospitals are putting their head down,” he said. “No one wants to stick their neck out and get on the administration's bad side.”

Cris Seda Chabrier contributed to this report.