PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge said the government went too far by issuing a statement that treatments such as puberty blockers and surgery were unsafe and ineffective for young people experiencing gender dysphoria, according to a ruling Thursday in Oregon.
Judge Mustafa Kasubhai’s ruling focused on Secretary of State Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s failure to go through proper administrative procedures when issuing a statement in December. The statement also warns doctors that if they provide these treatments, they may be excluded from federal health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
The judge also denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case.
The judge makes his decision at the end of an approximately six-hour hearing and will issue a written ruling later.
“Today’s victory cuts through the noise and provides some needed clarity to patients, families and health care providers,” New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James, who led the lawsuit, said in a statement Thursday. “Health care services for transgender young people remain legal, and the federal government cannot intimidate or punish providers who provide these services.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
The judge spoke about the broader implications associated with the case, particularly as it relates to democracy, The New York Times reported.
The judge said: “The idea of ’I’m going to take a step forward and issue a declaration and see if we can get away with it’ is not a principle of governance that upholds the overall commitment of a democratic republic, which requires that the rule of law be held sacred and respected and revered.”
The decision is the second major legal setback this week for Kennedy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. On Monday, another federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked several of Kennedy’s vaccine policy changes. The judge ruled that Kennedy may have violated federal procedures by revamping a key vaccine advisory committee and scaling back childhood vaccination programs without input from the committee. Federal officials said they plan to appeal the ruling.
In December, a coalition of 19 states and the District of Columbia sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy and its inspector general over the statement, claiming it was inaccurate and illegal and asking a court to block its enforcement.
The lawsuit alleges that the HHS statement was intended to force providers to stop providing gender-affirming care and circumvent legal requirements for the policy change. It also said federal law requires the public to be given notice and an opportunity to comment before substantive changes to health policy — neither of which the lawsuit said was completed before the announcement.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announcement builds on the conclusions of a peer-reviewed report conducted by the department earlier this year that urged greater reliance on behavioral therapies rather than extensive gender-affirming care for youth with gender dysphoria.
The report casts doubt on the standards of treatment for transgender teenagers issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and raises concerns that teenagers may be too young to consent to life-changing treatments that could lead to future infertility.
Major medical groups and those who treat transgender young people sharply criticized the report as inaccurate, and most major U.S. medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, continue to oppose restrictions on transgender care and services for young people.