State of Missouri v. Becerra
Description: After the Biden administration unlawfully published a rule that changes the federal definition of "sex" to include "gender identity" in health care, the states of Missouri and Utah, along with five states and the American College of Pediatricians, sued the administration for requiring treatment of and payment for dangerous procedures.
ADF files third lawsuit challenging Biden admin's attempt to hijack medicine
ST. LOUIS – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the American College of Pediatricians, together with seven states—including Missouri and Utah as co-leads—are suing the Biden administration for adopting a rule that forces medical professionals and insurance providers to perform or pay for harmful “gender-transition” procedures or face severe financial consequences. This is the third lawsuit ADF attorneys have filed against the administration’s attempt to rewrite federal health care law.
In May, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a new rule under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act that requires doctors to act against their sound medical judgment and perform harmful, often sterilizing procedures to make people, including children, appear to be the opposite sex, even if state law restricts these procedures. Additionally, the new rule requires insurance coverage for these procedures; coerces specific gender-related medical speech and the use of inaccurate pronouns; and forces medical facilities to provide access to sex-specific spaces based on gender identity.
“The Biden administration’s attempt to hijack medicine is the latest example of its unlawful overreach,” said ADF Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake. “The HHS rule will harm those suffering from gender dysphoria, particularly children, and punish doctors who seek to care for them. Medical professionals around the world and individuals who have undergone these experimental, body-altering procedures are warning about their risks. Yet the Biden administration is working to force doctors to perform these harmful, often sterilizing procedures to make people appear as the opposite sex. We are urging the court to halt the administration’s vast overreach in health care.”
The American College of Pediatricians is a national organization of pediatricians and other health care professionals founded in 2002 and dedicated to protecting the health and well-being of children.
As the attorneys explain in the lawsuit, HHS is threatening to punish doctors who do not comply with the mandate by imposing huge financial penalties and excluding them from federally funded health care programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, effectively precluding doctors and states from providing health care for the most vulnerable children in low-income communities.
The attorneys filed the lawsuit, State of Missouri v. Becerra, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division.
ADF attorneys have filed similar cases against the administration’s new health care rule in State of Florida v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and McComb Children’s Clinic v. Becerra. Edward H. Trent of Schaerr Jaffe LLP, one of more than 4,500 attorneys in the ADF Attorney Network, will serve as co-counsel on behalf of American College of Pediatricians.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT Julie Marie Blake
Julie Marie Blake serves as senior counsel for regulatory litigation at Alliance Defending Freedom. Over the last decade, she has been on the front lines of high-profile, precedent-setting cases challenging federal overreach in courts across the country. Blake served as deputy solicitor general for the state of Missouri from 2017 to 2020 and as assistant solicitor general for the state of West Virginia from 2013 to 2017. In these roles, she argued 26 federal and state appeals, including before the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. Before entering government service in 2013, Blake was a litigation associate at Baker Botts L.L.P., where she served as volunteer amicus counsel in several ADF cases, including Town of Greece v. Galloway. Following law school, she served as a law clerk for Judge Paul J. Kelly, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Notre Dame Law School in 2009. She received her B.A. in Politics and Theology & Religious Studies phi beta kappa from the Catholic University of America in 2006. She is a 2007 Blackstone Fellow. Blake is admitted to practice in multiple states, the Supreme Court, and in many federal district and appellate courts.