Your Tax Dollars Could Still Be On The Line In Fight Over Trans Surgeries for Kids

A Biden-appointed judge in Oregon on Thursday said he would block a Trump administration declaration stating that transgender medical procedures for children are not “safe” or “effective.” 

U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai sided with more than a dozen Democratic attorneys general who challenged the policy issued by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in December 2025.

In that declaration, the Department of Health and Human Services said that “sex-rejecting procedures for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective as a treatment modality for gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, or other related disorders in minors, and therefore, fail to meet professional recognized standards of health care.”

The administration argued the declaration was a general statement of policy. However, Kasubhai indicated that Kennedy did not follow the required procedures in issuing it.

“The notion that ‘I will go forward and issue a declaration and see if we can get away with it’ is not a principle of governance that adheres to the overarching commitment to a democratic republic that requires the rule of law to be regarded and respected and honored as a sacred,” Kasubhai said. 

The judge delivered a verbal ruling from the bench and said a written decision would follow. 

The declaration addressed treatments including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries like mastectomies and vaginoplasties.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the plaintiffs in the case, celebrated the ruling.  

“Health care services for transgender young people remain legal, and the federal government cannot intimidate or punish the providers who offer them,” James said. “It is my duty and my privilege to stand with trans New Yorkers and their families. I will always fight for the LGBTQ+ community.”

The ruling comes as the Trump administration has taken steps to cut off federal funding for all providers that offer such treatments to minors. In December, HHS posted rules to bar hospitals providing transgender procedures to minors from participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs, and would prohibit Medicaid’s Children’s Health Insurance Program from being used for transgender procedures for individuals under 19.