Boston, Massachusetts - A number of US states have banded together to file a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's administration over its effort to ban vital medical treatments for transgender youth.

On Friday, attorneys general representing 16 states and Washington DC filed the lawsuit challenging an executive order Trump signed earlier this year to stop medical providers from "maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children" aged 19 and under who identify as trans.

The suit also accuses the administration of threatening patients and providers with civil and criminal prosecution if care is provided by using a law that makes it a felony to perform female genital mutilation on anyone under 18, as there is no federal statute to enforce the ban.

"The result is an atmosphere of fear and intimidation experienced by transgender individuals, their families and caregivers, and the medical professionals who seek only to provide necessary, lawful care to their patients," the suit argues.

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The states involved in the suit include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and the nation's capital of DC.

The suit comes as hospitals and other major institutions across the country have recently ended gender-affirming programs for youth out of fear of retaliation from the Trump administration.

Last month, the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, California closed down its gender-affirming care center, which had been serving young people for over three decades.