Kyle Faget on HHS Gender-Affirming Care Declaration – Impact is 'Enormous'

Foley & Lardner LLP partner Kyle Faget commented on the recent Department of Health and Human Services declaration rejecting gender-affirming care in the STAT News article, “Nineteen states, D.C. sue HHS over gender-affirming care crackdown.”

Faget described the declaration’s impact as “enormous,” highlighting that it exposes providers to significant risks for offering gender-affirming care, regardless of medical consensus.

“It essentially says to the medical community…you can’t, without significant risk, provide gender-affirming care even if you believe that is an appropriate standard of care,” she explained. She added that the declaration would effectively bar those health care providers from practicing within entities that accept federal funding, even if they provide gender-affirming services in a private practice.

“We’ve never seen a declaration issued like this before. Declarations tend to be issued in public health emergencies. That’s not what they chose to do here,” Faget added.