Democratic states sue Trump administration over order to halt funding for gender-affirming care

Three Democratic states sued the Trump administration on Friday over its order to ban federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender people under 19.

Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown filed the federal lawsuit in the Western District of Washington. The attorneys general of Oregon and Minnesota, and three doctors, also joined as plaintiffs. The complaint argues that the order discriminates against transgender people.

Trump signed an executive order last month directing federally run insurance programs, including Medicaid and TRICARE for military families, to exclude coverage for such care. It also calls on the Department of Justice to pursue litigation and legislation to oppose it.

Medicaid programs in some states cover gender-affirming care. The new order suggests that the practice could end, and targets hospitals and universities that receive federal money and provide the care.

‘‘That order poses an immediate threat to young people all across Washington state, and to the medical professionals in Washington who provide much-needed health care,‘’ Brown said at a news conference in Seattle.

The complaint argues that the order violates equal rights protections, the separation of powers and states' powers to regulate what is not specifically delegated to the federal government.

The development comes after families with transgender or nonbinary children filed a separate lawsuit in a Baltimore federal court earlier this week.

While the legal fights go on, some providers have halted gender-affirming care for transgender young people while officials in New York have told hospitals that it would violate the law to stop the services.

In addition to the orders on health care access and defining the sexes as unchangeable, Trump has also signed orders that open the door to banning transgender people from military service and set up new rules about how schools can teach about gender.

Trump also signed an executive order on Wednesday intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women’s sports.

Legal challenges have already been filed on the military order and a plan to move transgender women in federal prisons to men’s facilities. Others are likely to be filed, just as there have been challenges to a variety of Trump’s policies.

Researchers have found that fewer than 1 in 1,000 adolescents receive the care, which includes treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone treatments and surgeries — though surgery is rare for children.

As transgender people have gained visibility and acceptance in some ways, there’s been vehement pushback. At least 26 states have passed laws to restrict or ban the care for minors. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last year but has not yet ruled on whether Tennessee’s ban on the care is constitutional.

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Rush reported from Portland, Oregon. Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington and Geoffrey Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed.