Democratic States Sue to Block RFK Jr.'s Transgender Care Ban

A coalition of 19 Democratic state attorneys general sued the Trump administration, arguing its attempt to withhold Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals providing gender-affirming care to adolescents violates procedural law and interferes with state authority.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Oregon by states including New York, California, and Illinois challenges a “declaration” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. released last week saying that “[s]ex-rejecting procedures for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective.”

Kennedy’s declaration is part of an agency-wide push to bar gender-affirming treatments, which also includes two proposed rules to exclude hospitals from Medicare and Medicaid.

Democrats are fighting President Donald Trump’s attempts to align federal policy with his belief that there are only two genders. The administration has unwound a series of Biden-era policies that sought to expand protections for transgender individuals, with support from the majority of Republicans in Congress. The administration earlier this year sent warning letters to multiple children’s hospitals to end gender-affirming care, and the Justice Department subpoenaed providers for patents’ private information.

“At the core of this so-called declaration are real people: young people who need care, parents trying to support their children, and doctors who are simply following the best medical evidence available,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “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.”

The lawsuit claims the declaration violated mandatory notice-and-comment rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act and illegally supersedes state authority over Medicaid and general medical standards of care. The states argued the declaration skips the administrative process required to remove providers from Medicaid, and that Kennedy has limited authority to do so.

The declaration was based on a report HHS released in May casting doubt on care standards endorsed by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. The report pointed to increasing restrictions on gender-affirming care in other countries, but was met with backlash from medical groups in the US.

HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is Oregon v. Kennedy, D. Or., No. 6:25-cv-02409, complaint filed 12/23/25.