Latest news with #genderidentitycare
CNN
01-08-2025
- Health
- CNN
State attorneys general sue Trump over targeting of medical professionals who provide gender identity care to trans youth
A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general sued the Trump administration on Friday over President Donald Trump's effort to use the Department of Justice to go after medical professionals who provide gender identity care to trans youth and 18-year-olds. The complaint filed at a federal court in Boston argues that an executive order signed by Trump in late January and subsequent actions taken by the DOJ to investigate doctors around the country involved in administering such care are unlawful and must be permanently blocked. Trump's order specifically took aim at medical procedures intended to alter sex or gender that involve surgical interventions or the use of puberty blockers or sex hormones in those under 19-years-old. The administration's actions, the attorneys general argue, 'have had the intended effect of chilling providers from (administering) gender-affirming care to individuals under 19 years old – care that is lawful and protected in plaintiff States.' 'The administration has explicitly threatened civil and criminal prosecution of providers of this care and launched criminal investigations into children's hospitals,' they continued, 'Without any reason to believe those hospitals have violated the statutes being invoked.' The lawsuit comes as advocates for trans youth have turned to federal courts in an attempt to stave off a slew of steps Trump has taken since returning to the White House to end access to gender identity care in the US and rollback trans rights more broadly. Among other matters, Trump's order directed his Justice Department to investigate states that allow the procedures and 'review' the enforcement of the US legal code that criminalizes female genital mutilation on minors. The department said earlier this month that it had 'sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics involved in performing transgender medical procedures on children,' though it didn't specify which individuals or entities it had subpoenaed. 'These threats have no basis in law. No federal law prohibits, much less criminalizes, the provision or receipt of gender-affirming care for transgender adolescents,' the attorneys general argued. More than two dozen states have passed bans on transgender care for children and teenagers, according to a CNN analysis of data from the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank that advocates for LGBTQ rights. Those bans cover everything from puberty blockers and hormone therapy to surgeries, which are rarely performed on minors. But other states, including some that brought Friday's lawsuit, have enacted laws seeking to protect access to such care for their residents. The lawsuit argues in part that Trump's actions are trampling over states' 'authority to regulate the practice of medicine and their considered judgment that access to this medical care for adolescents should be protected.' The attorneys general behind the lawsuit are from New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Washington, DC. Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is also a plaintiff in the case. Major mainstream medical associations — including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the Endocrine Society, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry — continue to advocate the practice of gender identity care and agree that it's clinically appropriate care and can provide lifesaving treatment for children and adults. CNN's Alejandra Jaramillo and Jen Christensen contributed to this report.
CNN
01-08-2025
- Health
- CNN
State attorneys general sue Trump over targeting of medical professionals who provide gender identity care to trans youth
A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general sued the Trump administration on Friday over President Donald Trump's effort to use the Department of Justice to go after medical professionals who provide gender identity care to trans youth and 18-year-olds. The complaint filed at a federal court in Boston argues that an executive order signed by Trump in late January and subsequent actions taken by the DOJ to investigate doctors around the country involved in administering such care are unlawful and must be permanently blocked. Trump's order specifically took aim at medical procedures intended to alter sex or gender that involve surgical interventions or the use of puberty blockers or sex hormones in those under 19-years-old. The administration's actions, the attorneys general argue, 'have had the intended effect of chilling providers from (administering) gender-affirming care to individuals under 19 years old – care that is lawful and protected in plaintiff States.' 'The administration has explicitly threatened civil and criminal prosecution of providers of this care and launched criminal investigations into children's hospitals,' they continued, 'Without any reason to believe those hospitals have violated the statutes being invoked.' The lawsuit comes as advocates for trans youth have turned to federal courts in an attempt to stave off a slew of steps Trump has taken since returning to the White House to end access to gender identity care in the US and rollback trans rights more broadly. Among other matters, Trump's order directed his Justice Department to investigate states that allow the procedures and 'review' the enforcement of the US legal code that criminalizes female genital mutilation on minors. The department said earlier this month that it had 'sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics involved in performing transgender medical procedures on children,' though it didn't specify which individuals or entities it had subpoenaed. 'These threats have no basis in law. No federal law prohibits, much less criminalizes, the provision or receipt of gender-affirming care for transgender adolescents,' the attorneys general argued. More than two dozen states have passed bans on transgender care for children and teenagers, according to a CNN analysis of data from the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank that advocates for LGBTQ rights. Those bans cover everything from puberty blockers and hormone therapy to surgeries, which are rarely performed on minors. But other states, including some that brought Friday's lawsuit, have enacted laws seeking to protect access to such care for their residents. The lawsuit argues in part that Trump's actions are trampling over states' 'authority to regulate the practice of medicine and their considered judgment that access to this medical care for adolescents should be protected.' The attorneys general behind the lawsuit are from New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Washington, DC. Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is also a plaintiff in the case. Major mainstream medical associations — including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the Endocrine Society, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry — continue to advocate the practice of gender identity care and agree that it's clinically appropriate care and can provide lifesaving treatment for children and adults. CNN's Alejandra Jaramillo and Jen Christensen contributed to this report.
CNN
26-07-2025
- Health
- CNN
See where gender identity care is restricted and where it's protected
The US Supreme Court's decision to uphold Tennessee's ban on gender identity care for transgender minors earlier this summer has fueled ongoing polarization around LGBTQ issues and controversial policies across the nation. The high court has also agreed to take on more cases dealing with trans rights in its next session that begins in October. Twenty-seven states have passed laws limiting access to gender identity health care for transgender children and teenagers, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy think tank. An estimated 40% of trans youth ages 13 to 17 live in these states. There have already been more anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in state legislatures so far this year than in any full year since at least 2020, a CNN analysis of American Civil Liberties Union data found. These bills span various aspects of everyday life, including bathroom access, school sports and identification documents. CNN is tracking where these laws are being passed and where these bills are being introduced. This story will be updated. Gender identity care includes medically necessary, evidence-based care that uses a multidisciplinary approach to help a person transition from their assigned sex— the one the person was designated at birth — to their affirmed gender, the gender by which one wants to be known. Most of the states limiting gender identity care for trans minors adopted their bans in 2023, a record-breaking year for such laws. So far this year, one state — Kansas — has passed a ban, prohibiting the use of state funds to provide or subsidize health care for transgender youth. Not all laws are currently being enforced, however. The ban in Arkansas has been permanently blocked by a federal court, though the state said it would appeal the ruling. Montana's ban is also permanently blocked, according to KFF. Though Arizona has a 2022 law on the books banning surgical care for transgender minors, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed an executive order in 2023 ensuring access to gender identity health care. Nearly 600 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced into state legislatures as of July 11, which is already more than any other year on record, according to the ACLU. Education and health care continue to be key targets. There were more bills restricting student and educator rights — enforcing school sports bans and targeting students' access to facilities consistent with their gender identities, for example — than any other category of bills, according to a CNN analysis of ACLU data. Legislators in Texas have introduced 88 anti-LGBTQ bills so far this year, more than double the number of bills being considered in any other state. Four of those — including one that limits changes to gender markers on state medical records — have been passed into law. In late July, Texas lawmakers are reconvening for a 30-day special session. On the agenda is a transgender bathroom bill. Lawmakers in every state, except for Vermont, have filed at least one anti-LGBTQ bill in 2025, according to a CNN analysis. Twenty-two states have signed those bills into law.
