Biden Administration Declines to Appeal Ruling That Struck Down Transgender Medical Mandate

The Biden administration has declined to appeal a U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that struck down its transgender mandate requiring all doctors and hospitals to perform gender transition procedures.

In August, the Fifth Circuit court, which has jurisdiction over Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, unanimously upheld a lower court’s ruling in the case, which protected around 19,000 health care professionals in Franciscan Alliance, a Catholic health care network, from being forced to perform medical procedures against their conscience and best medical judgment.

The deadline to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of United States passed on Nov. 25, which means the lower court’s ruling is now final.

Luke Goodrich of Becket, a nonprofit group that advocates for religious freedom and provided legal counsel, celebrated the deadline’s passing as a victory.

“Great news!” Goodrich posted on Twitter. “The ruling was a successful step in the fight to protect doctors’ conscience rights.”

Goodrich said the medical professionals who challenged the mandate “happily serve all patients, regardless of sex or gender identity” but refuse to perform gender-transition procedures “which are widely disputed in the medical community.”

“Many see the procedures as physically harmful with no psychological benefits—especially when performed on children,” he said.

Goodrich highlighted a similar case pending in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals after a lower court struck down the transgender mandate when it was challenged by the State of North Dakota and Catholic healthcare providers. The federal government then appealed the ruling to the Eighth Circuit, which covers North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas.

The Obama administration issued the federal mandate more than six years ago in an attempt to force all doctors nationwide to perform gender transitions on any patient who consents, including children whose parents give permission.

On Oct. 21, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under the direction of Secretary Xavier Becerra, issued guidance stating that it was illegal for doctors and health care providers to deny “gender-affirming care” to patients seeking such medical interventions.

This week, Becerra indicated that the Biden administration supports using taxpayer dollars to pay for transgender treatment for minors, according to written testimony submitted to the House Committee on Education and Labor on Nov. 29 and obtained by the Daily Caller.

And in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into law several legislative bills promoting “gender-affirming care” for minors. One of them, Senate Bill 107, makes California a trans sanctuary state to shelter parents of transgender youth from states from being prosecuted for child abuse.

More recently, legal challenges to “gender-affirming care” mandates have been cropping up across the country, including a case in Arkansas where the state is defending a law banning gender transition medical interventions on minors.

Meanwhile, a growing number of former transgender youth known as destransitioners, including Chloe Cole, Daisy Strongin, Laura Becker, and others have recently shared their stories of deep regret over taking cross-sex hormones and having their breasts surgically removed.

Cole was 15 when she underwent a double mastectomy, and her attorneys have issued a letter of intent to sue the Kaiser Permanente medical group for giving her cross-sex hormones and allowing her to have gender transition surgery as a minor.

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Brad Jones is an award-winning journalist based in Southern California.