Press Release  AG Campbell Sues Trump Administration Over Illegal Conditions To Programs That Support Comprehensive Sexual Health Education

Boston — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today joined a coalition of 17 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over its cruel, arbitrary, and illegal effort to pull funding for longstanding teen reproductive and sexual health education programs unless states remove language affirming young people’s gender identity. 

“Every student deserves to learn in an environment where their identities are respected, and our schools have an obligation to provide a comprehensive sexual education that supports the health and wellbeing of all students, including our LGBTQ+ youth,” said AG Campbell. “The Trump Administration’s attempt to hold this critical education funding hostage unless states agree to erase transgender and nonbinary people’s experiences from the curriculum is unlawful and deeply harmful to our young people.” 

Massachusetts receives approximately $1 million annually through the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) grant to educate teenagers on pregnancy and preventing the spread of sexually transmitted infections.  

Congress created the PREP and the Title V Sexual Risk Avoidance Education grant programs with clear statutory requirements that content be medically accurate and culturally appropriate. The Trump Administration’s baseless claims that gender is absolute, fixed, and binary, and that any reference to transgender status or gender identity must be erased altogether, are at direct odds with those requirements. Forcing states to choose between violating federal law by using medically unsupported, incomplete program content or losing out on millions in critical grant funding puts states in an impossible position.   

The attorneys general argue HHS’s actions violate the federal Administrative Procedure Act as well as the United States Constitution. The coalition states that unilaterally imposing these vague and harmful conditions usurp Congress’s spending power and violates the separation of powers.  

With this lawsuit, the coalition asks the Court to declare HHS’s grant conditions unlawful. 

Joining AG Campbell in filing the brief are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. 

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