Three Democrat-led states sued the Trump administration Friday over its order to ban federal funding for gender-transition care for people under 19.
Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown filed a federal lawsuit in the Western District of Washington. The attorneys general of Oregon and Minnesota, and three doctors, also joined as plaintiffs. The complaint argues that the order discriminates against transgender people.
Trump signed an executive order last month directing federally run insurance programs, including Medicaid and TRICARE for military families, to exclude coverage for such care. It also calls on the Department of Justice to pursue litigation and legislation to oppose it.
Medicaid programs in some states cover gender-transition care. The new order suggests the practice could end, and targets hospitals and universities that receive federal money and provide such care.
"That order poses an immediate threat to young people all across Washington state, and to the medical professionals in Washington who provide much-needed health care," Brown said at a news conference.
The complaint comes after families with transgender or nonbinary children filed a separate lawsuit in a Baltimore federal court earlier this week.
Although the legal fights go on, some providers have halted gender-transition care for minors while officials in New York have told hospitals that it would violate the law to stop the services.
In addition to the orders on health care access and defining the sexes as unchangeable, Trump has also signed orders that open the door to banning transgender people from military service and set up new rules about how schools can teach about gender.
Trump also signed an executive order Wednesday intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports.
Legal challenges have been filed on the military order and a plan to move transgender women in federal prisons to men's facilities. Others are likely to be filed, just as there have been challenges to a variety of Trump's policies.
At least 26 states have passed laws to restrict or ban such care for minors. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last year but has not yet ruled on whether Tennessee's ban is constitutional.
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