A federal judge ordered on Tuesday that the Department of Health and Human Services and its agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration, restore data and webpages that were scrubbed to comply with President Trump’s order on gender ideologies.
U.S. district judge John Bates granted temporary restraining orders sought by Doctors for America. The group argued that their members used the websites to treat patients and conduct research. The nonprofit organization claimed that the Department of Health and Human Services and some of its components had violated federal laws by removing the websites.
Bates determined that the challengers had a good chance of succeeding in their claim that the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), CDC, and FDA acted illegally when they removed medical information from websites that were open to the public.
He wrote: “It is important to emphasize that the defendants’ actions ultimately harm everyday Americans and, most acutely underprivileged Americans seeking healthcare.” Bates cited declarations filed by two doctors in the case to say that if they cannot provide the care these individuals need (and deserve), within the scheduled and sometimes limited timeframe, it is possible some individuals may not receive treatment. This includes severe, life-threatening illnesses. “The public has a strong stake in preventing these serious injuries.”
In his order, he directs agencies to restore older versions of their website by Tuesday at 11:59 pm. Bates had held an inquiry on Monday.
Trump’s first executive order, on gender ideology, was signed on his first official day. It stated that America recognizes only two genders: male and female. The order also directed agencies to remove all “statements, policies, regulations and forms, communications and other internal and exterior messages which promote or inculcate gender ideologies.”
The Office of Personnel Management sent a memo to all agencies directing them, by 5 pm on January 31, to remove all websites, social media pages, and any other media that is accessible to the public “that promote or inculcate gender ideology.” The CDC and FDA responded to the memo by taking down several web pages and data, including advice on how doctors should treat sexually transmitted infections and adult vaccination guidance.
The wording of some websites has been changed to comply with Trump’s directive. This allows them to remain online. However, other information such as data from the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance system, have been removed.
In a banner posted on the agency’s main website, it said that “the agency is being modified to comply with President Trump’s executive order.”
Doctors for America sued the health agencies in February, alleging that they had violated federal laws that govern the rulemaking process of the agencies and that require federal agencies to provide “timely and equal access” to public information.
In court documents, the group claimed that its members relied upon the scrubbed data to provide treatment, conduct medical research, and inform public health interventions on topics such as youth risk behavior, adolescent and HIV health.
Doctors for America reported that some of their members had already experienced challenges due to the loss of information from CDC. It said that in one case, a Chicago-based doctor who works at a low-income clinic for immigrant families was unable to consult the CDC website to find resources on how he could address a chlamydia epidemic at a high school local and bolster STI prevention and testing efforts.
In a statement, another doctor who is a researcher in the Yale School of Medicine said that she no longer had the ability to consult CDC materials when prescribing treatment.
Bates wrote that doctors’ time is a precious resource, and if they are forced to spend it elsewhere, their job becomes harder and treatment becomes less effective.
He said that the Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, and FDA face a minimal burden if required to store access to health resources, which have been available to the public for years.
“There is nothing in either the OPM memorandum or the record, and indeed defendants proffered no information at the hearing, to suggest the restoration of the removed webpages would pose a burden on the agencies’ ability to engage in their work,” Bates wrote. “Similarly, there is no information to suggest that restoring public access would even interfere with the agencies’ ongoing efforts to conform those resources with the president’s executive orders.”
Bates’ order comes after Trump has suffered numerous court setbacks resulting from lawsuits that target his administration. Five different judges ruled in favor of challenges to Trump’s directives regarding birthright citizenship. They also ruled against a federal funding freeze, the way medical research grants were funded, and his deferred resigning program.
