Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced on Mar. 17 that she is co-leading a group of attorneys general in filing amicus briefs supporting the Endocrine Society and World Professional Association for Transgender Health. These organizations are currently being targeted by the Federal Trade Commission, which has requested extensive information about their internal operations and recommendations.
The issue is significant because professional medical organizations like the Endocrine Society and WPATH provide guidance used by states to shape public health policies. The attorneys general argue that federal interference could undermine the quality and reliability of this guidance, affecting care for residents across the country.
Campbell said, “The Trump Administration’s attempt to bully independent organizations into abandoning scientific facts to fuel its own political agenda threatens the health and safety of our residents. Politics should have no place in our hospitals and doctors’ offices.” She added that states depend on these groups for trusted information to ensure residents receive appropriate care, vowing continued defense against what she described as improper federal demands.
According to Campbell and her colleagues, states are recognized regulators of healthcare who rely on expert consensus from professional groups like ES and WPATH when developing policy. They say that efforts by the Trump Administration to obtain internal documents from these groups represent a broader pattern of disregarding established medical recommendations in favor of politically motivated positions—citing issues such as childhood vaccines and medication safety during pregnancy as examples.
Earlier this month, Campbell joined 19 other attorneys general in supporting another organization—the American Academy of Pediatrics—in a similar dispute with federal authorities over data requests. The current coalition is urging courts to grant preliminary injunctions preventing further investigative demands by the FTC against ES and WPATH.
Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia,and Washington joined Campbell in filing both briefs.
