Trump Signs Order Restricting Gender-Affirming Care For Those Under 19

NBC News: Trump Signs Sweeping Order To Further Restrict Trans Care For Minors Nationwide
President Donald Trump signed a broad executive order targeting transition-related medical care for minors Tuesday. The order, titled “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” intends to restrict access to gender-affirming medical care — including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery — for minors, which it defines as those younger than 19. It prohibits federal funding from covering such care for minors, restricts research and education grants to medical schools and hospitals, and directs the secretary of Health and Human Services to issue regulations to end such care for minors. (Yurcaba, 1/28)

On transgender troops and prison inmates —

AP: Six Active Duty Service Members File First Lawsuit Challenging Trump's Transgender Troop Ban 
Six transgender active duty service members and two former service members who seek re-enlistment on Tuesday filed the first lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order that calls for revising policy on transgender troops and probably sets the stage for banning them in the armed forces. The six plaintiffs include a Sailor of the Year honoree, a Bronze Star recipient and several who were awarded meritorious service medals. (Copp, 1/28)

The New York Times: Inmate Sues The Trump Administration Over Transgender Executive Order 
A federal inmate sued the Trump administration on Sunday, challenging an executive order that requires the Bureau of Prisons to house transgender women in U.S. prisons designated for men and to stop providing prisoners with gender-transition medical treatments. Referred to by the pseudonym Maria Moe in court papers, the prisoner is described as a transgender woman who began transitioning in middle school, started taking feminizing hormones at age 15, and has been housed in a facility designated for women since she was taken into custody. (Harmon, 1/27)

AP: Trump Is Looking To Boot Transgender Troops From The Military. Here's Why That's Complicated 
The Pentagon has said in recent years that it is impossible to count the total number of transgender troops. The military services say there is no way to track them and that much information is limited due to medical privacy laws. Estimates have hovered between 9,000 and 12,000. But it will be very difficult for officials to identify them, even as service members worry about the hunt to root them out. (Baldor, 1/29)

Axios: Trump's Trans Military Ban Part Of Playbook To Defund Gender-Affirming Care
Anti-abortion forces similarly used federal funding as a wedge in the 1970s to enact the Hyde Amendment, which bars the use of federal funds in Medicaid and other federal health programs for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or in cases where the pregnant person's life is in danger. The amendment was renewed multiple times by Congress, even when Democrats controlled the House. And similar policies were extended to other federal health programs, including coverage for federal employees and their families, military personnel and inmates in federal prisons, per Planned Parenthood. (Reed, 1/28)

Related news from North Dakota, Montana, and Kansas —

North Dakota Monitor: Transgender Teen Urges Judge To Legalize Gender-Affirming Care For Minors In North Dakota 
A North Dakota teenager on Tuesday told a courtroom that gender-affirming care saved her life. The state in 2023 made it a crime for health care professionals to provide the treatments to anyone below age 18. The ban contains an exemption for children who were receiving treatment before it went into effect. “I am very grateful to be able to receive gender-affirming care, and I know there’s a lot of other children my age who are not able to receive it,” said the 16-year old, testifying under the pseudonym Pamela Roe. “I know very well that could have been me.” (Steurer, 1/28)

KTVH: Montana Bill Would Criminalize Transgender Medical Treatment Under The Age Of 16
On Monday, Montana lawmakers heard public comment on Senate Bill 164. The proposed legislation would criminalize transgender medical treatment for individuals under the age of 16. ... Medical doctors who testified said there are no documented cases of surgical treatment being administered to transgender youth in Montana they are aware of and worry about how the bill would impact medical providers. (Riley, 1/27)

The Beacon: Kansas Is Trying Again To Ban Gender-Affirming Care For Minors
Kansas lawmakers are debating a bill that would ban hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender-affirming surgeries. (Mesa, 1/28)