Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Becca Balint (VT-AL) led 88 colleagues in a letter to President Trump to call out his reckless attempt to end access to life saving care for transgender young people. Balint and her colleagues note that this shocking interference in private medical decisions, which should be made by doctors, patients, and their families. This letter comes following a demonstrated anti-trans agenda from President Trump and his administration. 

“We urge you to rescind your unlawful, unconstitutional attempt to end access to life-saving care for transgender young people immediately. You should be listening to trans young people, their families, and their doctors. The evidence is clear: the medical care you seek to ban saves lives and we want trans kids to live,” the members wrote.  

“This dangerous ban is an astonishing attempt to interfere in private health care decisions. Trans young people, their parents and their doctors should be the ones making their health care decisions. No one should need to ask the President’s permission to access life-saving, evidence-based health care,” the members continued in the letter.   

Trump’s executive order against lifesaving health care for trans young people is one of many anti-trans actions the Trump Administration has taken since January. The executive orders include removing trans Americans from the military and banning trans kids from school sports. The Trump Administration has also taken steps to erase trans Americans from history including by erasing the word trans from federal websites. 

The letter is endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign, Advocates for Trans Equality and the American Civil Liberties Union. 

“Without question, withholding access to this care for trans adolescents is nothing short of a betrayal of the well-established ethical principles of the medical profession. We are heartened and inspired by Representative Balint’s continued resolve and leadership, in calling on her colleagues to fight this administration every step of the way in their constant attempts to target a vulnerable subgroup of an already vulnerable community. Representative Balint and her co-signing colleagues clearly understand what is at stake in this fight and we are proud to endorse this letter and the efforts of all members of Congress who have signed on,” said Sinéad Murano-Kinney, Advocates for Trans Equality Health Policy Analyst.  

"Since his first day back in office, Donald Trump has unleashed a sweeping campaign of hate, censorship, and chaos on the lives of transgender Americans and their families. His effort to coerce their doctors to abide by his will instead of their best medical judgement is particularly alarming and threatens the well-being of transgender young people nationwide. We're thankful for the leadership from Congresswoman Balint and would encourage all of our elected allies to stand united against this unjust and dangerous policy,” said Ian Thompson, Senior Legislative Advocate for the ACLU.

The letter is signed by Alma Adams, Gabe Amo, Yassamin Ansari, Nanette Barragán, Donald Beyer, Suzanne Bonamici, Julia Brownley, Salud Carbajal, André Carson, Greg Casar, Sean Casten, Judy Chu, Emanuel Cleaver, Joe Courtney, Angie Craig, Jasmine Crockett, Jason Crow, Danny Davis, Madeleine Dean, Diana DeGette, Suzan DelBene, Mark DeSaulnier, Maxine Dexter, Lloyd Doggett, Veronica Escobar, Adriano Espaillat, Dwight Evans, Lizzie Fletcher, Laura Friedman, Jesús García, Robert Garcia, Sylvia Garcia, Daniel Goldman, Jimmy Gomez, Raúl Grijalva, Jahana Hayes, Chrissy Houlahan, Sara Jacobs, Pramila Jayapal, Henry Johnson, Julie Johnson, Timothy Kennedy, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Greg Landsman, Rick Larsen, Summer Lee, Sam Liccardo, Sarah McBride, Jennifer McClellan, Betty McCollum, James McGovern, LaMonica McIver, Robert Menendez, Kevin Mullin, Jerrold Nadler, Eleanor Norton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Jimmy Panetta, Brittany Pettersen, Chellie Pingree, Mark Pocan, Ayanna Pressley, Mike Quigley, Delia Ramirez, Emily Randall, Jamie Raskin, Andrea Salinas, Linda Sánchez, Mary Gay Scanlon, Janice Schakowsky, Lateefah Simon, Adam Smith, Eric Sorensen, Melanie Stansbury, Greg Stanton, Eric Swalwell, Mark Takano, Mike Thompson, Dina Titus, Rashida Tlaib, Jill Tokuda, Paul Tonko, Nydia Velázquez, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Nikema Williams, and Frederica Wilson.

Read the full text of the letter here. 

###