Order Blocking Transgender Care Rule Improper, HHS Tells Court

A lower court order blocking the federal government from allegedly forcing Christian medical care providers to treat or pay for transgender-related care must be lifted because it affects only hypothetical future conduct, HHS and transgender advocates said.

The injunction issued by Judge Reed C. O’Connor in 2021 permanently prohibits Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, HHS, and anyone acting in concert with it from interpreting Obamacare’s anti-discrimination protections and issuing regulations to require providers involved in the dispute to perform or provide insurance coverage for gender-transition procedures or abortion care.

But the suit originally involved only a 2016 rule ...