New lawsuit challenges HHS rule that forces doctors to perform controversial gender transition procedures on children

Philadelphia, PA- August 26, 2021—Catholic Medical Association, together with Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the American College of Pediatricians, and an OB-GYN doctor who specializes in caring for adolescents, are suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over a Biden administration mandate requiring doctors to perform gender transition procedures on any patient, including a child, even if the procedure violates a doctor’s medical judgment or religious beliefs.

ADF attorneys filed suit in federal court regarding HHS’ reinterpretation of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits sex discrimination, to include gender identity and thus require gender transition interventions, services, surgeries, and drugs on demand, even for children, no matter a doctor’s medical judgment, religious beliefs, or conscientious objection.

“Biological identity must remain the basis for treating patients,” said CMA President, Dr. Michael Parker.

“This mandate not only puts the health and safety of our patients in jeopardy, but it in effect also mandates that health care providers give up their fundamental right to conscience. This sets a dangerous precedent with incalculable implications for the ethical practice of medicine,” added Dr. Parker.

“The laws of our land and the medical profession have long respected the biological differences between boys and girls and the unique needs they each present in health care. Forcing doctors to prescribe transition hormones for 13-year-olds or perform life altering surgeries on adolescents is unlawful, unethical, and dangerous,” said ADF Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert in a statement.

CMA and its co-complainants believe that Biden’s Health and Human Services department is grossly overreaching its authority and, in so doing, putting children’s psychological and physical health in great peril.