ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL LEADS COALITION STANDING UP TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ATTACKS ON PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ORGANIZATIONS

ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL LEADS COALITION STANDING UP TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ATTACKS ON PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ORGANIZATIONS

March 10, 2026

Chicago - Attorney General Kwame Raoul today led a coalition of 19 state attorneys general in support of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which is being targeted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over recommendations that run counter to the Trump administration's preferred policies.

The coalition filed an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit filed by the Illinois-based AAP challenging the FTC's improperly motivated demands that the organization turn over extensive information regarding AAP's deliberative processes, personnel, internal and external communications, political advocacy, educational programs, finances and more. The AAP is seeking a court order to block the FTC's Civil Investigative Demand for this information, which the FTC seeks to further the administration's political agenda, rather than to ensure the wide availability of safe healthcare.

"The FTC is targeting a professional organization that has helped to shape high quality, life-saving healthcare for children for more than 90 years, simply because the Trump administration's preferred policies run counter to what the scientific community determined is necessary healthcare," Raoul said. "If the FTC is successful in pressuring medical organizations to change their evidence-based recommendations for care, then we are all at risk of losing access to effective, necessary healthcare that is not driven by politics."

In their brief, Raoul and the attorneys general note that states have long been recognized as the regulators of healthcare and play a unique and critical role in ensuring that all people, including children and youth, have access to the highest quality and safest healthcare. To ensure that state public health policies and medical policy are driven by the latest developments and consensus among the medical and scientific community, Illinois looks to the policies and recommendations of pediatric healthcare experts, such as the AAP. State agencies, like the Illinois Department of Public Health, consider AAP guidance to help shape state policies to treat a range of childhood illnesses and medical conditions, such as measles and juvenile diabetes. States must be able to rely on the quality and accuracy of this guidance, which would be compromised by politically driven interference by the federal government.

Raoul and the attorneys general strongly oppose the Trump administration's political targeting of professional medical organizations like the AAP, which undermines states' ability to regulate the practice of medicine and ensure that safe and effective care is available to residents.

The attorneys general assert in their brief that the targeting of the AAP is part of a pattern by the Trump administration of disagreeing with widely held public health and medical recommendations of respected medical professionals and public health officials. The administration also often issues guidance that conflicts with such recommendations, not only concerning healthcare for transgender youth, but also on many different medical issues, ranging from what amounts to a healthy diet and nutrition to whether pregnant women can safely take some medicines, like Tylenol.

The coalition is urging the court to grant AAP a preliminary injunction to stop the FTC's investigative demands for information.

Joining Raoul in filing the brief are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.