Judge orders HHS, CDC and FDA to restore deleted webpages with health information

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 removed in compliance with President Trump's executive order on gender ideology.

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.

Bates found that the challengers were likely to succeed in their claims that the Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, and FDA acted unlawfully when they stripped medical information from public-facing websites.

"It bears emphasizing who ultimately bears the harm of defendants' actions: everyday Americans, and most acutely, underprivileged Americans, seeking healthcare," he wrote. Citing declarations from two doctors filed in the case, Bates said if they "cannot provide these individuals the care they need (and deserve) within the scheduled and often limited time frame, there is a chance that some individuals will not receive treatment, including for severe, life-threatening conditions. The public thus has a strong interest in avoiding these serious injuries to the public health."

His order directs the agencies to restore earlier versions of their websites by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.

This is a developing story and will be updated.