A federal court has granted Attorney General Austin Knudsen's request to block the Biden administration's new rule, which would withhold funding from states and healthcare providers that refuse to provide or pay for "gender-transition" treatments for adults and children. In response, Attorney General Knudsen issued a statement:
"The Biden administration issued another lawless order and it was rightfully smacked down by the court. The president went too far forcing healthcare providers to perform dangerous and life-altering experimental procedures and states to foot the bill for treatments that are leaving people, even children, with irreversible damage."
Attorney General Knudsen filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services' rule in June. The rule, titled "Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities," was established under Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). It mandates healthcare providers to perform "gender-transition" medical activities on adults and children seeking such procedures or risk losing federal funding. However, Section 1557 does not authorize—and has never authorized—the federal government to compel anyone to perform or pay for these procedures.
The judge noted in the decision: "'How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!' Here, federal agencies are attempting to impose a sweeping new social policy by manipulating and perverting the statutory text that constrains them. Texas and Montana seek a stay or preliminary injunction to prevent the irreparable harm that will undoubtedly follow. The Court grants the States’ request."