After years of protests by trans advocates in New York, State Attorney General Letitia James has joined an ongoing lawsuit in defense of trans youth healthcare.
The lawsuit is against an incoming rule barring Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) from funding trans healthcare for minors or 18 year olds. This policy is set to take effect on Oct. 13.
Her department is joined by 20 other State Attorneys General in the Democratic Party.
Her joining this lawsuit comes after New York hospitals and medical associations have repeatedly cut coverage for trans youth healthcare.
The first and most prominent example of this has been NYU Langone, one of the biggest hospitals in New York City.
Days after Trump issued an executive order banning trans healthcare for youth and 18 year olds, NYU announced that they would longer offer trans healthcare to new patients under 19, but keep it for existing patients. NYU was among the first hospitals in the country to comply with the executive order. This led to a protest of around 1,000 people outside their primary hospital.
Last February, the hospital went further by cutting off all trans healthcare to those under 19, including for its existing patients.
Again, this led to protests outside their main hospital. A key demand of these protests was to pressure state and city officials, especially State AG James, to enforce the existing laws of New York State which protect access to trans healthcare, a demand echoed by both protesters and the elected officials speaking at the event.
AG James and her office have made clear that New York hospitals following the executive orders prohibiting trans care are violating New York State's protections for trans youth healthcare.
Joining this lawsuit is the most concrete step towards protecting trans care that the New York Attorney General's Office has taken since Trump entered office last year. It shows that the pressure by trans advocates is affecting the priorities of elected officials in the state.
