Federal Judge Orders Federal Health Agencies to Restore Scrubbed Webpages and Data

A federal judge has ordered that HHS, CDC, and the FDA “restore webpages and data that had been scrubbed in compliance with President Trump's executive order on gender ideology while litigation moves forward,” according to CBS News.

The nonprofit organization Doctors for America sought a temporary restraining order, which was granted by U.S. District Judge John Bates. Two doctors filed declarations in the case: “a Chicago clinic doctor who would have consulted CDC resources to address a recent chlamydia outbreak in a high school and a Yale School of Medicine doctor who relies on CDC resources about contraceptives and sexually transmitted infections.”

Bates emphasized in his ruling that “everyday Americans” are the people who will face the brunt of the harm of losing access to this information, especially “underprivileged” Americans. He also said that the 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.”

President Trump signed an executive order on gender ideology on his first day in office, precipitating the removal of “numerous webpages” from the FDA and CDC out of fear that they would be targeted by the memo if they remained up.

HPN has previously reported on this lawsuit from Doctors for America and Trump’s actions against federal health agencies.