Families and Doctors Ask Federal Court to Enforce Injunction Blocking Trump Administration's Anti-Trans Healthcare Policy
BALTIMORE - March 7, 2025 - Attorneys representing families and doctors from across the country filed a motion in federal court today asking the court to enforce its nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from taking steps to restrict funding for providers of gender-affirming medical care to people under 19.
A week after returning to office, President Trump issued an executive order threatening to withhold all federal funding from any medical provider who offers gender-affirming medical care to transgender people under 19. The order was soon after challenged by families, medical providers, and organizations that serve them inPFLAG v. Trump, a case filed on their behalf by Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and the ACLU of Maryland.
- On Tuesday March 4, a federal district court in Baltimore granted a nationwide preliminary injunction in PFLAG v. Trump preventing the Trump administration from conditioning, withholding, or terminating federal funding based on the fact that a healthcare entity or health professional provides gender-affirming medical care to a patient under 19 under the executive orders or from "tak[ing] any steps to implement, give effect to, or reinstate [the EOs] under a different name."
- On March 5, the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) issued a notice to providers stating that it "may begin taking steps to align its policies and regulations" with the Trump administration's order.
- On March 6, the federal Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued similar notices to grantees which specifically stated those steps could include terminating or "rescoping" grants.
Today's motion asks the court to order the agencies to rescind the notices, provide the recipients of the notices with copies of the court order, and submit to the court signed acknowledgments by the agency heads that they have personally received a copy of the order.
The following is a joint statement from Lambda Legal and the ACLU:
"These notices are a transparent attempt to coerce medical providers to ignore their best medical judgment and instead follow politically charged edicts from the President, injecting his ideology into the medical lives of thousands of transgender people and their families. The Trump administration is not above the law. Like anyone else, it must abide by and respect federal court orders. We are asking the court to enforce the preliminary injunction and make clear that the Trump Administration cannot threaten medical providers or hospitals' federal funding for providing necessary gender-affirming medical care while the injunction is in place."
Read today's emergency motion for enforcement here. Read the memorandum in support of the emergency motion here.
Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education and policy work. www.lambdalegal.org
