Afederal judge in Baltimore on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order that pulled funding for hospitals and healthcare providers that do not stop providing gender-affirming treatments to people under the age of 19.
Trump signed the executive order in January, which threatened to withhold federal funding for hospitals and other healthcare providers nationwide that do not stop providing the gender-affirming care, which includes puberty blockers and hormone treatments.
Judge Brendan Hurson granted a preliminary injunction against the order on Tuesday, which will impact hospitals and healthcare providers nationwide. A previous order by a different judge only impacted four states, per the New York Times.
The case stems from a group of six transgender people between the ages of 12 and 18, and their parents and advocacy groups, who claimed that their access to treatment was threatened by two of Trump’s orders.
The second executive order directed federal agencies to ensure that grant funding for research does not support “gender ideology.” Trump’s administration has also stated the federal government would only recognize two genders.
“The Court cannot fathom discrimination more direct than the plain pronouncement of a policy resting on the premise that the group to which the policy is directed does not exist,” Hurson wrote in his order.
Hellbound and Down 