“States have the right to regulate medicine and determine appropriate treatments for Medicaid coverage; and our tax dollars should not be spent on life-altering and damaging experimental medical treatments,” said Attorney General Landry. “Florida’s comprehensive review does not support the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and reassignment surgeries as safe and effective treatments for gender dysphoria; and the Sunshine State should be allowed to follow the science.”

While the plaintiffs challenging Florida’s regulation relied heavily on medical interest groups to argue that transitioning treatments are supported by medical opinion, the multi-state legal brief points out that these groups are at odds with European governmental healthcare authorities that have, like Florida, openly assessed the evidence base for the treatments. After doing so, the brief notes, healthcare authorities in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, and Norway all “called for drastically curtailing the availability of transitioning treatments for minors.”

The brief also argues that medical interest groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health operate as self-interested advocacy organizations when it comes to transitioning treatments. The brief highlights a number of episodes that reveal that these medical organizations have suppressed dissent and rebuffed calls from doctors for a transparent review of their policies. “The interest groups do not represent ‘medical opinion,’” the brief concludes, “just an outspoken slice of it.”

Attorney General Landry has been involved in multiple efforts related to this issue, including a major legal victory over Governor John Bel Edwards. That defeat of the Governor’s unconstitutional Executive Order JBE 2016-11 not only ensured the separation of powers, but also protected taxpayers from the huge financial burdens associated with creating a new protected class by executive fiat.

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A copy of the brief filed by Attorney General Landry, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, and their colleagues from Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia may be found at https://www.agjefflandry.com/Article/13135.