Washington DC - A group of states recently banded together to sue the US Health and Human Services (HHS) Department and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over their efforts to block gender-affirming care for minors.

According to NPR, 19 states and the District of Columbia filed the lawsuit on Tuesday against HHS, Kennedy, and the department's inspector general in opposition to their plan issued last Thursday to cut off all Medicaid and Medicare payments to any hospital or other facilities across the country that provide minors with gender-related treatments.

The lawsuit argues the plan is inaccurate and unlawful, and requests the court block its enforcement.

In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has been leading the suit, said, "Secretary Kennedy cannot unilaterally change medical standards by posting a document online."

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"And no one should lose access to medically necessary healthcare because their federal government tried to interfere in decisions that belong in doctors’ offices," she added.

James is joined by Democratic attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Washington.

HHS' efforts come as President Donald Trump has made targeting the trans community a focus of his second term in office, going after trans athletes and institutions that allow them to compete, and attempting to ban trans people from the military.

RFK Jr.'s views on the issue appear to be in line with the president's. Back in February, Kennedy teamed up with Riley Gaines, a swimmer who became an outspoken MAGA activist after losing a competition to a trans athlete, to put out an HHS news release announcing the federal government will now only recognize two genders.

While Trump has pushed the narrative that transgenderism is a "radical" leftist ideology that must be destroyed, other critics on the right have focused on gender-affirming care for minors, which many of them deem to be child abuse.

In their plan, HHS argued that treatments like puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries are unsafe and ineffective for children experiencing gender dysphoria.