FRANKFORT Ky. (July 3, 2024) – Attorney General Russell Coleman announced today a federal district court judge blocked the Biden Administration’s attempt to force medical professionals to adhere to its gender politics over medical reality. In May, Kentucky joined a 15-state coalition to challenge the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) regulation that redefined sex discrimination.
Under the rule, which would have gone into effect Friday, medical providers would be compelled to perform surgeries and administer hormone drugs to children and adults for the purpose of gender transition. The rule would have also required providers to use gender-affirming pronouns and allow patients into sex-segregated spaces on the basis of gender identity instead of biological sex. Any provider who refused to comply with the Biden Administration’s gender rules would face severe penalties.
“Medical professionals should be focused on healing patients, not the federal government’s political agenda,” said Attorney General Coleman. “It’s unthinkable that we would compel doctors and nurses to perform life-altering surgeries on children that defy their conscience and state law. We’ll continue standing firm for Kentucky against the Biden Administration’s extreme agenda that puts politics over common sense.”
By granting the nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the regulation, the U.S. District Court in Mississippi found General Coleman and the coalition are likely to win on the merits of the case and that allowing the rule to take effect would carry a substantial threat of imminent irreparable harm.
Last month, Attorney General Coleman and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led a six-state coalition to block a similar effort to erode Title IX and equal opportunities for women in education and athletics. The Biden Administration has appealed that ruling, and General Coleman continues fighting for Kentuckians in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Read the Mississippi court’s Preliminary Injunction and the Opinion and Order.