Biden administration declines Supreme Court appeal for transgender surgery mandate

June 21, 2023 02:40 PM

Transgender Law Kentucky — FILE – Supporters of Senate bill 150, known as the Transgender Health Bill gather in the Rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol as protesters look on from the balcony on March 29, 2023, in Frankfort, Ky. A new dispute has erupted in June over Kentucky’s sweeping transgender law, revolving around one word in a section banning sex education topics — including sexual orientation — from discussion in classrooms. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)

The
Biden administration
has declined to seek
Supreme Court
intervention on its requirement that healthcare organizations perform and cover
transgender
procedures.

For the second time, the federal government has decided not to pursue a high court review for unfavorable decisions on its mandate that would have forced doctors to prescribe cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers, as well as perform genital mutilation surgeries, against their conscience.

Missing the June 20 deadline to appeal the case from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Biden administration has failed in two judicial circuits, the other being the 5th, to uphold its mandate.

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“After multiple defeats in court, the federal government has thrown in the towel on its controversial, medically unsupported transgender mandate,” Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which was retained as plaintiff counsel,
said
in a press release. “Doctors take a solemn oath to ‘do no harm,’ and they can’t keep that oath if the federal government is forcing them to perform harmful, irreversible procedures against their conscience and medical expertise.”

In December, the 8th Circuit
ruled unanimously
in favor of a group of Catholic hospitals, nuns, and a university, including the plaintiff Religious Sisters of Mercy, issuing a block on the Department of Health and Human Services mandate.

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The mandate is derived from an interpretation of Obamacare, which HHS and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined required doctors and hospitals to provide transition procedures, for children and adults. Judges decided the requirement conflicted with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The Biden administration’s refusal to pursue the case also comes as more and more Republican lawmakers are banning transgender procedures for minors and as many European countries are
highlighting
the significant mental and physical harm patients suffer from the medical interventions.