Republican states join Trump FTC in lawsuit against world’s leading transgender health care group

The Trump administration opened a new legal front against transgender healthcare on Wednesday, suing the world’s leading transgender health organization and accusing it of misleading families, doctors, and insurers about gender-affirming care for minors.The Federal Trade Commission, joined by the attorneys general of Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas, filed the lawsuit against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health in federal court in Texas. The complaint alleges that WPATH made deceptive or unsubstantiated claims about the safety, effectiveness, medical necessity, and evidence base for puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries for young people.Related: Federal judge blocks FTC probes into trans medicine groups, citing ‘extensive evidence of animus’ The 123-page complaint names WPATH’s Texas and Illinois corporations and the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health, WPATH’s U.S. affiliate. Rather than targeting a hospital, state policy, or an individual provider, the lawsuit targets the organization whose Standards of Care have helped shape the medical, legal, and insurance landscape surrounding transgender health care for decades.WPATH forcefully rejected the allegations on Wednesday, accusing the administration of abusing federal power to attack transgender patients and the medical professionals who care for them.“This is the second time this year the Trump Administration has abused the authority of its agencies to interfere with Americans’ rights to seek and obtain the healthcare that should be decided between a patient and their physician,” the organization said in a statement to The Advocate.WPATH said the FTC’s earlier attempt to obtain protected information from the organization had been “struck down by a federal judge” and called the new lawsuit “a similarly baseless actual complaint.” The organization also said the FTC “is not a medical provider and has no place interfering with the