Chlamydia Outbreak Warning Issued After Trump Removes STD Info

A federal judge criticized the Trump administration for removing information about sexually transmitted diseases while a Chicago doctor is fighting a chlamydia outbreak.

Why It Matters

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report in November showing that America has been suffering an "epidemic" of sexually transmitted diseases in recent years.

"The number of sexually transmitted infections [STIs] remains high in the United States, with more than 2.4 million reported in 2023," the report said.

Newsweek sought email comment on Wednesday from the Trump administration's Office of Personnel Management, the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

What To Know

President Donald Trump made a campaign pledge to fight trangender ideology in the federal government.

On January 29, Trump's Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memorandum to all agencies titled "Initial Guidance Regarding President Trump's Executive Order Defending Women," ordering all federal agencies to "take down all outward facing media [websites, social media accounts, etc.] that inculcate or promote gender ideology," and "ensure that all applicable agency policies and documents, including forms, use the term 'sex' and not 'gender.'"

Sex Not Gender

In response to OPM's memorandum," the CDC and FDA removed large numbers of webpages and datasets that used the word "gender" instead of "sex."

On February 4, the progressive group Doctors for America, which promotes "reproductive rights and coalition building" and "gender affirming care" filed an 18-page lawsuit seeking to stop the administration's removal of "a broad range of health-related data and other information used every day by health professionals to diagnose and treat patients and by researchers to advance public health."

Restraining Order

On February 11, Washington, D.C., federal Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, agreed to impose a temporary restraining order on the OPM and ordered that any deleted webpages be restored.

In so doing, Bates criticized the administration for interfering with the work of Chicago-based Dr. Stephanie Liou, a board member of Doctors for America.

Liou had submitted information to the court about a localized chlamydia outbreak in her area.

Bates noted that it is not merely that the lack of information makes it harder for her to do her job.

"Dr. Liou cannot effectively do her job to address a 'time-sensitive' chlamydia outbreak that is happening now," he wrote.

Another plaintiff, Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, had submitted documents to court showing that she needed the CDC documents to deal with cases of preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.

"Put simply, just as Dr. Liou has a time-limited ability to assist the chlamydia outbreak, Dr. Ramachandran has a time-limited ability to treat certain patients at her clinic," Bates wrote.

What People Are Saying

Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk in a post to X, formerly Twitter, which he owns, criticized Bates' ruling on Tuesday: "Truly absurd. Judges as website editors!? We should at least ATTEMPT to fire this junky jurist. The notion of having a judge job for life, no matter how bad the judgments, is ridiculous! Enough is enough."

Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee on X on Tuesday: "These judges are waging an unprecedented assault on legitimate presidential authority, all the way down to dictating what webpages the government has. This is absurd."

Progressive consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, which is representing Doctors for America in the lawsuit, in a statement on Tuesday: Bates' temporary restraining order is "a huge win for doctors, researchers, and patients."

What Happens Next

Bates' temporary restraining order will restore the medical web pages until he conducts a full hearing into the facts of the case. The Trump administration will likely appeal Bates' decision.