Deborah Archer President at American Civil Liberties Union | Official website
Attorneys representing families and doctors nationwide have filed a motion in federal court, seeking enforcement of an injunction against the Trump administration's policy on gender-affirming healthcare. The motion requests the court to ensure compliance with a preliminary injunction that blocks any steps to restrict funding for providers offering such care to individuals under 19.
President Trump, shortly after resuming office, issued an executive order aimed at withholding federal funding from medical providers delivering gender-affirming care to transgender youth. This order was challenged in the case PFLAG v. Trump by families, medical providers, and supporting organizations represented by the ACLU, the ACLU of Maryland, and Lambda Legal.
On March 4, a federal district court in Baltimore granted a nationwide preliminary injunction preventing any action based on Trump's executive orders that would affect funding for healthcare entities providing gender-affirming care. Despite this ruling, agencies like the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA), and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued notices suggesting alignment with Trump's policy could lead to grant terminations or modifications.
The motion filed today seeks to compel these agencies to withdraw their notices, distribute copies of the court order to recipients of these notices, and provide signed acknowledgments from agency heads confirming receipt of the order.
In a joint statement, the ACLU and Lambda Legal expressed concern over these actions: "These notices are a transparent attempt to coerce medical providers to ignore their best medical judgment and instead follow politically-charged edicts from the President, injecting his ideology into the medical lives of thousands of transgender people and their families. The Trump administration is not above the law. Like anyone else, it must abide by and respect federal court orders."
