The rule prohibits states from funding “broad categories of transgender healthcare” through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, also known as CHIP.
In doing so, the lawsuit argues, the rule effectively strips the states of their statutory roles as Medicaid and CHIP program administrators, with the authority to establish coverage that is “consistent with local values and priorities.”
Campbell said in a statement that the new set of requirements “unlawfully undermines states’ authority to regulate healthcare and tries to strip healthcare access from vulnerable kids.”
“Gender-affirming care remains legal and protected in Massachusetts, and we will not allow the federal government to dictate what care our patients receive,” Campbell said.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Boston on Sept. 2 the same day that trans activists staged a sit-in at the attorney general’s office in downtown Boston, pressing Campbell to take a stronger stance against healthcare providers themselves.
Protect Trans Futures, a local advocacy group, has accused Campbell of being reluctant to “investigate or compel providers to restore care, despite the fact that these decisions violate Massachusetts civil rights law.”
The group also said in a social media post that no healthcare providers in Massachusetts are known to have actually lost federal funding for providing gender-affirming care.
“We will not accept a future where trans youth are denied care simply because institutions are afraid to stand up to Trump,” read the post.
The group said that nine activists were arrested as part of the protests. State Police did not immediately return a request for comment.
Campbell has sued the Trump administration more than 70 times since January 2025, on issues ranging from birthright citizenship to public health research. She has earned praise from Democrats who have otherwise been critical of the party’s perceived lack of forcefulness against Trump.
Massachusetts, in conjunction with several other states, has fought to block previous attempts by the Trump administration to roll back health care for trans youth, including a rule that would have banned providers offering gender-affirming care from participating in the federal Medicaid and Medicare programs.
But some trans rights advocates have grown frustrated with Campbell’s strategy of targeting the Trump administration directly, rather than focusing on providers who are themselves electing to cut gender-affirming care.
Fenway Health, a community health clinic which specializes in LGBTQ+ care, announced last year it would no longer offer hormones or puberty blockers to transgender patients under age 19 following a change to federal funding requirements. Baystate Health and Outer Cape Health Services have since made similar announcements.
In a contentious exchange with a trans rights activist on WGBH last month, Campbell said that going after providers would be counterproductive — especially, she said, when those providers are under the federal microscope “not just for gender affirming care, [but] for every health care resource you can think about.”
“I do not think we’re at a stage now where I should be prosecuting a community-based health organization or a children’s hospital or others who are doing the best they can,” Campbell said. “What I do think we can do is tell them what their legal rights and obligations are, which we have.”
She expressed optimism that providers who cut care will eventually reverse course “because of our advocacy.”
Camilo Fonseca can be reached at camilo.fonseca@globe.com. Follow him on X @fonseca_esq and on Instagram @camilo_fonseca.reports.