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Blue States Join Forces to Sue Health Department Over Anti-Trans Declaration
Nineteen states, along with the District of Columbia, have joined a lawsuit directed at the Department of Health and Human Services intending to block a recent declaration by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that would stop gender-affirming care for trans youth.
The health department’s declaration came out on December 18, would block puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender affirmation surgery for people under 18, calling them unsafe. The lawsuit is led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who vowed last week to protect transgender youth against Trump administration policies.
“Secretary Kennedy cannot unilaterally change medical standards by posting a document online, and no one should lose access to medically necessary health care because their federal government tried to interfere in decisions that belong in doctors’ offices,” James said Tuesday.
READ MORE: ‘Crazy’: RFK Jr. Is a Top Global Public Health ‘Expert’ Claims Miller, Sparking Mockery
The suit says the HHS is required to solicit public comment before enacting a policy change. While there is a public comment period that ends on February 17, according to the Baltimore Sun, the suit accuses the HHS of using the declaration to enact the new policy immediately.
“Healthcare decisions should be made by doctors and patients — not by politicians in Washington threatening to destroy providers’ careers and spreading fear among transgender youth and their families,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said in a statement. “This isn’t just about following the law — though HHS is clearly violating it. This is about protecting vulnerable young people who deserve the same dignity, respect, and access to medical care as anyone else.”
The eighteen state attorneys general are from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin and Washington. They have been joined by the attorney general from the District of Columbia and the governor of Pennsylvania.
The declaration also mentions that the Food and Drug Administration warned the manufacturers of chest binders that it is illegal to market them to children for treating dysphoria. This move has come under fire from said manufacturers who point out that while binders can be used for patients who have had a mastectomy, blocking them from being used for dysphoria is”clearly discrimination.”
Despite leading the HHS, Kennedy has no medical background. Rather, he was an anti-vaccine activist who shared the widely debunked conspiracy theory that the combined mumps, measles and rubella vaccine caused autism. There is no link between the MMR vaccine—or any other vaccine—and autism. Kennedy has also urged the CDC to stop an ad campaign encouraging people to get the flu shot. Under his tenure, a measles outbreak happened in the southwestern U.S., as well as the first measles-related death in a decade. Measles can be prevented by vaccination.
Image via Reuters
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