Texas Attorney General has sued the Biden administration over a new federal rule that he says would require states to pay for gender care procedures for transgender people through their Medicaid programs and require health care providers to perform them.
鈥淭his is yet another example of Joe Biden trying to sidestep the Constitution and use agency rulemaking to advance unpopular, unlawful, and destructive policies,鈥� Paxton wrote in .
At issue is a new Biden administration rule regarding a section of the Affordable Care Act that pertains to nondiscrimination. The section particularly bans discrimination based on gender.
In 2016, the Obama Administration interpreted it to protect against gender identity and sex stereotyping but not sexual orientation. Four years later, the Trump administration didn鈥檛 change the section but suggested it would interpret sex to mean only sex assigned at birth.
But the Biden administration in March issued rules that said the protections apply to gender identity and sexual orientation.The administration, through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, included specific protections for transgender people, including saying that providers can鈥檛 deny transition care that would be provided to other people for other purposes. It does, however, allow for some providers to make religious freedom claims.
Paxton鈥檚 office argued in a press release that the rule 鈥渋s a plainly unconstitutional attempt to override state law." He claims the health care law also doesn鈥檛 鈥渁uthorize鈥攁nd has never authorized鈥攖he federal government to compel anyone to perform or pay for these procedures.鈥�
Paxton has asked the federal court for injunctive relief, which would pause the rule from being implemented.
The state of Montana is also suing the Biden Administration over this rule.