LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel is back in court, once again squaring off with President Donald Trump. The battle isn’t over crime or corruption, but over the state’s right to continue medical gender-transition treatments for minors. She’s joined by 18 other blue-state Democratic attorneys general in a lawsuit challenging a federal move that questions the safety and effectiveness of those treatments for children and calling them “unsafe and ineffective.”
The legal fight stems from Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services declaration that warns that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and related procedures lack sufficient long-term evidence and could put kids at risk. The federal government signaled it could pull Medicare and Medicaid funding from doctors, hospitals or clinics that continue offering the treatments – a financial threat that sent Democratic state officials scrambling.
A legal tug-of-war over who gets to decide children’s medicine.
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Court documents outline the attorneys general calling the move “discrimination” and Nessel accuses the administration of using federal dollars to bully doctors and push ideology. Critics see it differently, arguing the state is rushing to defend irreversible medical procedures on minors while pretending the real victims are government agencies facing budget consequences.
Nessel and the other attorneys general also contend that the Trump Administration violated federal statutes by unlawfully changing medical standards without going through the notice and comment process – and are undermining states’ longstanding authority to regulate medicine.
When “trust the science” means ignore the science.
The lawsuit argues that the federal government has no right to interfere with what Nessel calls “evidence-based care.” But that claim glosses over a growing international retreat from pediatric gender medicine. Countries like the U.K., Sweden, and Finland have all pulled back after reviewing long-term data and finding serious risks – including sterilization, loss of sexual function, and irreversible physical changes.
Yet Michigan’s attorney general appears unfazed, insisting the real danger is limiting access to gender-transition treatments, not protecting kids from irreversible decisions they may not fully understand.
As the case moves forward, the dispute will ultimately hinge on whether the federal government has the authority to limit funding over medical practices it deems unsafe, or whether states retain the right to set their own standards of care. For now, the courts will decide whether the administration’s actions overstep federal law – and whether Michigan can continue supporting these treatments for minors under its current medical policies.
