Trump Actions on Gender Care for Minors Draw New States Lawsuit (1)

Trump administration restrictions on transgender care for minors have drawn a new legal challenge from a coalition of states.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, argues that what it calls President Donald Trump’s “Denial of Care” executive order and subsequent implementation actions are trying to block the provision of health care for transgender youth to minors without any basis in federal law.

“No federal law prohibits, much less criminalizes, the provision or receipt of gender-affirming care for transgender adolescents,” the lawsuit said.

Michigan, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, and New Mexico are among the states listed on the lawsuit. Also among the plaintiffs is Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat whose attorney general is a Republican.

They argue that the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and other leading medical associations back providing medical care for treating symptoms of gender dysphoria.

Interrupting or denying such care, the lawsuit adds, “can have tragic consequences for the physical and mental well-being of transgender adolescents diagnosed with gender dysphoria.”

The executive order in question was issued in late January and titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.”

The states want the court to declare unlawful the executive order’s directives to the Department of Justice, which include convening state attorneys general and other officials to coordinate enforcement of laws against gender-affirming care and prioritizing investigations into entities that “may be misleading the public about long-term side effects of chemical and surgical mutilation.”

Under the order, Attorney General Pam Bondi—also a defendant in the suit—in April issued a memo directing US attorneys to investigate suspected cases of gender-affirming care and prosecute “to the fullest extent possible.”

In June, Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate likewise directed DOJ civil division employees “to prioritize investigations of doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and other appropriate entities” for allegedly helping to provide gender affirming care.

In addition, the states want the court to “declare that the provision of medically necessary care to adolescents subject to the requirements of a state’s regulatory system is lawful.”

The case is Mass. v. Trump, D. Mass., No. 1:25-cv-12162, complaint 8/1/25.