The Balance of Power

Gender Affirming Care

Press Release:

Attor­ney Gen­er­al Tong Sues to Block Unlaw­ful Attacks on Med­ical­ly Nec­es­sary Health Care

Preceding Event:

On Jan. 28, 2025, Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump signed Exec­u­tive Order 14187. The order rescind­ed pre­vi­ous direc­tives and notices, directs mul­ti­ple agen­cies and depart­ments to review or change exist­ing poli­cies and change the inclu­sion of gen­der affirm­ing care in the health care cov­ered under the health insur­ance cov­ered for fed­er­al employ­ees.

It directs the Depart­ment of Health and Human Ser­vices to “take all appro­pri­ate actions to end the chem­i­cal and sur­gi­cal muti­la­tion of chil­dren,” and lists pro­grams, laws and issues that may be affect­ed by these reg­u­la­to­ry and sub-reg­u­la­to­ry actions. Med­ic­aid and Medicare are amongst those list­ed.

The order directs the Depart­ment of Jus­tice to pri­or­i­tize the enforce­ment of pro­tec­tions against female gen­i­tal muti­la­tion, pri­or­i­tize “inves­ti­ga­tions and take appro­pri­ate action to end decep­tion of con­sumers, fraud, and vio­la­tions of the Food, Drug, and Cos­met­ic Act by any enti­ty that may be mis­lead­ing the pub­lic about long-term side effects of chem­i­cal and sur­gi­cal muti­la­tion” and “pri­or­i­tize inves­ti­ga­tions and take appro­pri­ate action to end child-abu­sive prac­tices by so-called sanc­tu­ary States that facil­i­tate strip­ping cus­tody from par­ents who sup­port the healthy devel­op­ment of their own chil­dren, includ­ing by con­sid­er­ing the appli­ca­tion of the Parental Kid­nap­ping Pre­ven­tion Act and rec­og­nized con­sti­tu­tion­al rights.”

General Overview:

Accord­ing to the press release from July 29, 2025, “Attor­ney Gen­er­al William Tong today joined a mul­ti­state law­suit chal­leng­ing the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict access to nec­es­sary health­care for trans­gen­der, inter­sex, and non­bi­na­ry youth. The law­suit tar­gets recent fed­er­al actions aimed at deter­ring providers from offer­ing med­ical­ly appro­pri­ate care to indi­vid­u­als under age 19, even in states like Con­necti­cut where such care is legal and pro­tect­ed. The law­suit argues that the admin­is­tra­tion is over­step­ping its author­i­ty by using threats of crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion and fed­er­al inves­ti­ga­tions to pres­sure health care providers.

The coali­tion is ask­ing the court to block these actions and pro­tect access to care for patients who need it…The coali­tion argues that these actions vio­late the Con­sti­tu­tion, exceed fed­er­al author­i­ty, and under­mine state laws that require equal access to med­ical treat­ment. In Con­necti­cut, laws pro­tect patients from dis­crim­i­na­tion based on gen­der iden­ti­ty, and health care providers are required to treat all patients fair­ly and with­out bias. The law­suit asks the court to block the administration’s actions and stop the enforce­ment of these exec­u­tive orders.”

Connecticut Nexus:

From the law­suit, “In Con­necti­cut, the two pri­ma­ry providers of care for trans­gen­der ado­les­cents have elect­ed to stop pro­vid­ing med­ical care—including puber­ty block­ers and hor­mone replace­ment therapy—to patients under 19. Both hos­pi­tals high­light­ed fed­er­al pres­sures, with one not­ing the “fed­er­al exec­u­tive orders and admin­is­tra­tive actions relat­ing to gen­der-affirm­ing care for patients under age 19. The wind­ing down of these pro­grams may leave hun­dreds of young peo­ple with­out access to life­sav­ing care.”

Date of filing:

Aug. 1, 2025

Case #:

1:25-cv-12162

Case title:

Com­mon­wealth of Mass­a­chu­setts et al v. Trump et al

Plaintiffs: 16 states and D.C.

Defendants:

Court:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

Status as of Dec. 1, 2025:

OPEN
Last fil­ing: Nov. 21, 2025

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