A federal judge blocked a Biden administration regulation that would have expanded discrimination protections for transgender patients in health care facilities. Judge Louis Guirola Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Mississippi ruled on Wednesday that the Department of Health and Human Services lacked authority to redefine sex discrimination under the Affordable Care Act.
The policy would have required providers and insurers receiving federal money to offer gender-affirming treatments to transgender people. Fifteen Republican-controlled states challenged the measure, arguing the agency exceeded its legal powers by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to existing civil rights protections.
Guirola said the term sex must reflect its 1972 meaning when lawmakers wrote the underlying statute. That interpretation focuses on biological differences rather than identity categories that emerged decades later.
The Obama administration first issued similar protections in 2016, only for the Trump White House to reverse them. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti praised the decision as a check against federal overreach.
The policy would have required providers and insurers receiving federal money to offer gender-affirming treatments to transgender people. Fifteen Republican-controlled states challenged the measure, arguing the agency exceeded its legal powers by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to existing civil rights protections.
Guirola said the term sex must reflect its 1972 meaning when lawmakers wrote the underlying statute. That interpretation focuses on biological differences rather than identity categories that emerged decades later.
The Obama administration first issued similar protections in 2016, only for the Trump White House to reverse them. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti praised the decision as a check against federal overreach.
