Pediatricians ask appeals court to halt Biden mandate that forces them to violate medical judgment, beliefs

CINCINNATI – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the American College of Pediatricians and the Catholic Medical Association appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit Friday after a lower court dismissed their case.

In the lawsuit, American College of Pediatricians v. Becerra, the physicians are challenging a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate requiring doctors to perform controversial and life-altering procedures and surgeries for individuals seeking to alter their bodies to match their gender identity, including children, even if doing so violates the physician’s medical judgment, religious beliefs, or conscientious objections.

“Doctors should never be forced to perform a controversial and medically dangerous procedure that goes against their best judgment, their conscience, or their religion, especially when it involves vulnerable children,” said ADF Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake. “President Biden’s Health and Human Services department is grossly overreaching its authority and, in so doing, putting children’s psychological and physical health in danger. Our clients are rightfully objecting on medical, ethical, religious, and conscientious grounds to this unlawful government mandate.”

The two medical associations filing suit together represent 3,000 physicians and health professionals.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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