A U.S. judge on Wednesday blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a new rule against discrimination on the basis of gender identity in healthcare while he hears a lawsuit challenging it by 15 Republican-led states.

The rule was finalized in May, opens new tab by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and was set to take effect on Friday. It states that a federal prohibition on sex discrimination, part of the Affordable Care Act health insurance law, extends to discrimination against transgender people.

States opposing the new rule had said in their lawsuit that it would require their Medicaid programs covering low-income residents to pay for treatments like hormones and surgeries for transgender people, including for minors. Many Republican states have passed laws banning such treatments, often called gender-affirming care, for minors.

The rule applies to recipients of federal funds, including Medicaid programs. It followed executive orders President Joe Biden issued in 2021 and 2022 instructing agencies like HHS to take measures protecting transgender people from discrimination.

Senior U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola in Gulfport, Mississippi, said in his preliminary order, opens new tab on Wednesday that the Republican states were likely to succeed in their challenge. He said that the administration had overstepped its authority by interpreting "sex" in the federal law to include gender identity.

"Today a federal court said no to the Biden administration's attempt to illegally force every health care provider in America to adopt the most extreme version of gender ideology," Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, who led the lawsuit alongside Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, said in a statement. The states opposing the rule also include Georgia, Ohio and Virginia.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-blocks-biden-admin-rule-against-gender-identity-discrimination-2024-07-03/