Judge blocks Trump order restricting funding to clinics that provide puberty blockers and sex-change surgeries on minors

A federal judge in Maryland temporarily blocked enforcement of an executive order from President Donald Trump that sought to restrict federal funding to hospitals and clinics that provide "gender-affirming" treatments - puberty blockers, sex-change surgeries or hormone therapies - to children under the age of 19.

The ruling, issued by Judge Brendan A. Hurson, ordered the release of funding withheld after the signing of the executive order and notified all agencies of its own restraining order, which will last for 14 days.

Specifically, the restraining order by Hurson, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, states that the federal government may not withhold funding to health care providers serving transgender minors.

In addition, Judge Hurson's decision also blocked a portion of another executive order that prohibited using federal funds to "promote gender ideology."

The executive order signed by Trump, in addition to blocking clinics that provide such controversial treatments and surgeries on minors, also instructed the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to "take all appropriate actions to end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children."

This legal battle between the Trump administration and judges in progressive states is creating confusion for health officials in states such as California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Washington D.C., where it is legal and protected to carry out such hormonal treatments and surgeries for minors to make "gender transitions."

At the moment, the institutions do not know exactly how to comply with state and federal laws while the parties are in a conflict that promises to be extensive, with appeals in between.

Some health institutions, following the executive order, immediately canceled appointments for hormones, surgeries, puberty blockers and other services, while others continued to provide such treatments.