Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is joining a multi-state lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from limiting gender-affirming care.

The lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts district court by 17 states, argues an executive order signed in January by President Donald Trump that directs federal agencies to take “appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving federal research and education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children” violates states’ 10th Amendment right to regulate medical care.

The order defines “children” as people under age 19, which the attorneys general say conflicts with many states such as Illinois, where people are generally considered adults when they turn 18. A separate executive order by the president established that the federal government only recognizes two genders.

It also seeks to block two Department of Justice orders that direct the DOJ to investigate and enforce legal action against doctors, hospitals and other medical professionals that provide gender-affirming care to youths.

The orders use “cruel, demeaning language” to “undermine the legitimacy” of medical care, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a news conference Friday.

“This administration is driving a wedge between patients and health care providers from providing patients the health care that they need,” Raoul said.

Also troubling to the attorneys general is the prospect of criminal prosecution against doctors who provide care.

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“The Department of Justice is diverting valuable law enforcement resources away from catching criminals and predators who are actually harming children,” Raoul said. “How does any of this keep our children or our communities safer?”

Guidance to Illinois doctors

The orders have also caused Illinois health care providers to stop providing types of gender-affirming care, including University of Chicago Medical Center, UI Health, Rush, Northwestern Medicine and Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.

Though Raoul said he opposes the Trump administration’s policies and believes they are illegal, he declined to give legal advice about whether Illinois health care providers should continue following the federal directives while the lawsuit proceeds.

“I am not a health care administrator; I am not the head of a hospital that’s being threatened with potential criminal investigation or prosecution or removal of funding that goes toward saving the lives of various patients,” Raoul said. “And so I am not in the position of either advising what administrative decisions should be made at hospitals.”

Raoul said his role is to “remove” legal threats against the state and its residents.

Medical providers that decide to stop providing gender-affirming care are likely not guilty of discrimination under Illinois law, Raoul said, “particularly if the federal government is threatening you with criminal prosecution.” He added Illinois laws don’t require doctors to provide a full range of gender-affirming care.

Illinois has numerous laws on the books establishing legal gender-affirming care, including protections for Illinois health care providers from prosecution and other disciplinary action in other states for giving legal health care to patients in Illinois that might be considered illegal in another state.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.