Health Law Advisor

On August 12, 2026, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a letter (“Referral Letter”) to HHS Inspector General T. March Bell, targeting more than 250 health care entities providing gender-affirming care to minors “for investigation into possible violation of federal statutes.”

On August 13, 2026, Senior U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the District of Idaho issued a ruling in Seyb v. Members of the Idaho Board of Medicine, holding that Idaho’s near-total abortion ban is unconstitutional to the extent it prohibits abortions necessary to protect the health—not just the life—of the pregnant patient. Along with that holding, the court entered an injunction barring enforcement of the ban in those circumstances. The ruling is the first federal district court decision since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to hold that the U.S. Constitution affirmatively protects a right to health-preserving abortion.

On December 18, 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued two proposed rules impacting the ability of providers to deliver gender-affirming care to minors—now termed “sex-rejecting procedures” by the federal government.