Federal Judge orders CDC, FDA, HHS to restore webpages and data because members of Doctors for America use it to treat patients and conduct research and cited specific examples of patients they were unable to treat because of the removal.
"A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration to restore webpages and data that had been scrubbed in compliance with President Trump's executive order on gender ideology while litigation moves forward."
"U.S. District Judge John Bates agreed to grant a temporary restraining order sought by the group Doctors for America, which argued that its members used the websites when treating patients and conducting research. The nonprofit organization said that the removal of the webpages by the Department of Health and Human Services and its components violated federal law."
"Department Health and Human Services, CDC and FDA acted unlawfully when they stripped medical information from public-facing websites."
"His order directs the agencies to restore earlier versions of their websites by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. It comes after Bates held a hearing on the matter Monday."
"Signed on his first day in office, Mr. Trump's executive order on gender ideology stated that the U.S. recognizes two sexes, male and female, and it directed agencies to remove "all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology."
"Days after the president issued his order, the Office of Personnel Management issued a memorandum ordering all agencies by 5 p.m. on Jan. 31 to take down all websites, social media accounts and other public-facing media "that inculcate or promote gender ideology." In response to the memo, the CDC and FDA took offline numerous webpages and data sets, including recommendations on how physicians should treat sexually transmitted infections and adult immunization guidance....the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, was removed completely."
"The group argued in court papers that its members relied on the scrubbed information to provide treatment, conduct research and inform public health responses on topics like youth risk behaviors, adolescent health and HIV."
"In one instance, it said a Chicago-based physician who works at a clinic serving low-income immigrant families could not consult the CDC's website for resources on how to address a chlamydia outbreak at a local high school and bolster STI testing and prevention efforts. "
"Another doctor, who is also a researcher at the Yale School of Medicine, said in a declaration that she lost the ability to consult CDC resources about prescribing treatments."
""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."
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