Press Releases
12/24/2025
Attorney General Tong Files Lawsuit Challenging Federal Attack on Gender-Affirming Care
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today joined a multistate coalition of 18 other attorneys general in suing to ensure the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cannot threaten providers with a so-called declaration that baselessly and unlawfully attempts to limit access to gender-affirming care for young people. The declaration falsely claims that certain forms of gender-affirming care are “unsafe and ineffective” and threatens to punish any doctors, hospitals, and clinics that continue to provide it with exclusion from the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs. Attorney General Tong and the coalition argue that this declaration violates federal statutes by unlawfully changing medical standards without going through the notice and comment process and undermining states’ long-standing authority to regulate medicine. The coalition is asking the court to intervene and set aside the unlawful and arbitrary declaration.“Trump and RFK Jr. are forcing a radical political agenda on doctors and families and weaponizing Medicare and Medicaid funding to deny healthcare to kids. These extreme actions threaten to decimate medical providers nationwide unless they end gender-affirming care, supplanting medical expertise and parental choice with MAGA ideology. This is cruel and lawless, and we’re suing to block them,” said Attorney General Tong.
On December 18, HHS published a document that the agency called a “declaration,” claiming that certain forms of gender-affirming care are “unsafe and ineffective.” In the declaration, Secretary Kennedy claimed to give HHS the power to exclude health care providers and institutions from federally funded healthcare programs simply for providing health care for transgender adolescents. The agency also announced two proposed rules that would completely bar gender-affirming care providers and associated hospitals from participating in Medicare and Medicaid and ban payments for transgender health care through Medicaid. These rules have not yet gone into effect, and HHS has given the public until February 17, 2026 to submit comments on the proposals.
Attorney General Tong and the coalition argue that HHS is attempting to use the declaration to circumvent basic legal requirements for policy changes. Federal law requires agencies to provide the public with notice and an opportunity to comment before making significant changes to health care policy. Instead, HHS issued what it arbitrarily called a declaration and attempted to make it effective nationwide immediately, without consulting doctors, patients, or states. The attorneys general contend that this is a clear overreach by the federal government, given that HHS does not have the authority to take such an action. For generations, states, not the federal government, have been responsible for regulating the practice of medicine. Indeed, Congress expressly prohibits any federal officer from exercising any supervision or control over the practice of medicine. By attempting to impose a single nationwide standard and threatening to punish providers who adhere to well-established, evidence-based care, HHS is unlawfully interfering in decisions that should be made by doctors and their patients.
The attorneys general warn that HHS will attempt to use this unlawful action to enact immediate and widespread consequences. For transgender youth and their families, it creates fear and uncertainty about whether ongoing care could suddenly be taken away. For doctors and hospitals, it threatens severe penalties simply for treating their patients with evidence-based, medically necessary care. For states, it puts Medicaid programs at risk – programs that millions of people depend on for everyday and lifesaving care. States rely on broad networks of providers to deliver essential health services. By threatening to disqualify providers who offer gender-affirming care, the federal government is forcing doctors to choose between abandoning their patients or risking their livelihoods. This pressure would reduce access to care, worsen provider shortages, and harm Medicaid patients far beyond those seeking gender-affirming care.
Attorney General Tong and the coalition are asking the court to rule the HHS declaration unlawful and block its enforcement.
Joining Attorney General Tong in this lawsuit, which was led by the attorneys general of New York, Oregon, and Washington, are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the governor of Pennsylvania.
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Media Contact:
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