Pennsylvania is among 19 states suing to protect transgender youth from what advocates are calling a cruel and dangerous attack by the federal government. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania joined a multistate lawsuit to block a proposed federal rule that would strip hospitals of vital Medicare and Medicaid funding if they provide gender-affirming care to minors.
The policy, announced last week by U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., threatens to withhold nearly half of all hospital funding nationally, jeopardizing care access across the board, but especially for trans youth already under siege.
Kennedy’s directive rests on a debunked and highly politicized report claiming that gender-affirming care for minors fails to meet “professionally recognized standards of health care.” But leading medical authorities, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and WPATH, have long supported this care as evidence-based, safe, and often life-saving.
“Secretary Kennedy cannot unilaterally change medical standards by posting a document online,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the lead voices in the suit. “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.”
The lawsuit, filed by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, argues that regulating medical practice is a states’ rights issue, not something that can be dictated by a federal agency acting on extremist ideology. Alongside Pennsylvania, the plaintiffs include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and D.C., all of which have Democratic-controlled leadership.
This move by HHS is part of a broader anti-trans offensive inspired by Donald Trump’s executive orders denying the existence of trans people and describing gender-affirming care as “chemical and surgical mutilation.” These scare tactics are straight out of the far-right playbook, and they’re already having devastating effects.
Last week, the U.S. House passed a bill, authored by far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, that would criminalize gender-affirming care for minors nationwide, with prison sentences of up to 10 years for providers.
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At an HHS press conference last week, Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill doubled down, stating, “Men are men. Men can never become women. Women are women. Women can never become men.”