A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order defunding institutions that perform transgender treatments on children.
U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson in the District of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction on March 4 preventing the order, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” from going into effect.
The judge ordered the injunction in response to a February lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, among other groups, alleging Trump’s order disrupted “essential care” for transgender individuals.
Hurson, appointed by former President Joe Biden, called the alleged disruptions “potentially catastrophic.”
The preliminary injunction will stay in effect until the court makes a final decision on the merits of the case.
Days earlier, a federal judge in Seattle had also blocked Trump’s order, with that decision applying only to Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington.
Mixed Reaction from Hospitals
Hospitals have varied in their response to the order and subsequent court rulings. Michigan-based Corewell Health briefly paused child hormone therapy and other treatments before resuming them after Hurson paused the president’s order in February.
Michigan’s attorney general had sent out a warning to health care providers on February 7 that denying treatment due to gender identity “may constitute discrimination under Michigan law.”
The University of Virginia (UVA) announced on January 31 it would stop transgender treatments on new patients. The hospital system is continuing care for existing patients.
Money Talks
The executive order to stop transgender treatments on children comes with a big stick: the loss of federal money.
“If there was no financial gain to be realized by providing transgender interventions on minors, hospitals would not be interested in such programs,” said Tim Millea, M.D., chair of the Catholic Medical Association’s (CMA) Health Care Policy Committee.
If the executive order is reinstated on appeal, “hospitals that continue to provide such interventions on children and adolescents risk significant repercussions, including loss of Medicare and Medicaid funds, loss of research and educational grants, and investigation by the Department of Justice,” said Millea.
In announcing it would cease transgender treatments on minors, the UVA noted “loss of such federal funding would jeopardize the financial viability” of the university.
Child protection should come before profit, says Millea
“Ending such programs may decrease a hospital’s income, but it will protect young people from needless and harmful procedures with lifelong ramifications,” said Millea.
Ongoing Biden Roadblocks
Trump’s order was bold and much-needed, says Matt Bowman, a senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
“President Trump has taken strong executive action to protect children from the dangers of so-called ‘gender transition’ efforts by asking federal agencies to consider defunding hospitals that inflict such harm on children,” said Bowman.
The EO is not necessarily black and white.
“These specific funding decisions only occur after agencies evaluate and make specific determinations about particular hospitals,” said Bowman. “Agencies are also constrained by certain regulations passed during the Biden administration that push experimental ‘gender transition’ efforts upon children. This is why ADF is still litigating several cases against the Biden administration’s radical gender mandates.”
The administration should persevere, says Bowman .
“We hope that federal agencies like HHS will agree that the court should eliminate these unlawful mandates, to safeguard children from the promotion of gender ideology as soon as possible.”
Publicity War
The practice of gender transitioning on children is a triumph of ideology over science, says Millea.
“Over the past several years, secular medical organizations and government agencies that oversee medicine have frequently foregone scientific inquiry and allowed ideology to direct their positions on many issues,” said Millea.
“Regardless of the outcome with the executive order, it is critically important that the Trump administration and Congress continue to shed light on the dangers of transgender interventions in minors,” said Millea. “The most important factor in protecting children from these harms is the public’s growing awareness of this problem.”
Millea says there is “abundant evidence from European countries and elsewhere” that gender transitions lack benefits while causing “obvious damages.”
These children are being denied appropriate mental health treatment and rushed into unnecessary and destructive hormone treatments and surgery, says Millea.
“Gender-dysphoric children who present to transition clinics are commonly ‘fast-tracked’ to puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, rather than referred for counseling,” said Millea. “At least 85 percent of children with gender dysphoria will revert to their correct sex identity if they are simply allowed to receive counseling. The majority of these children have other mental health difficulties that are best managed by counseling rather than medications and surgery that produce permanent, lifelong changes.”
Lawsuit Counterattack
“It is imperative that American medical organizations such as the CMA continue to speak out and bring attention to these misguided and unethical programs,” said Millea. “The AMA and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) continue to pronounce support for transgender interventions in children, which is very difficult to understand given the overwhelming contrary evidence.”
Millea says litigation can be an effective way to solve the problem, “charging hospitals, physicians, and groups like AMA and AAP with negligence and malpractice.”
Such cases are increasingly common and “may end this ‘transgender industrial complex’ more quickly,” said Millea.
Harry Painter ([email protected]) writes from Oklahoma.
Harry Painter ([email protected]) writes from Brooklyn, New York.
