More than a dozen Democratic state attorneys general on Wednesday affirmed their support for gender-affirming health care for transgender youth after an executive order issued late last week by President Trump threatened federal support for treatments such as puberty blockers, hormones and surgery for young people.

“As state attorneys general, we stand firmly in support of healthcare policies that respect the dignity and rights of all people. Health care decisions should be made by patients, families, and doctors, not by a politician trying to use his power to restrict your freedoms,” 14 attorneys general said Wednesday in a joint statement led by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell.

The statement was signed by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.

“Gender-affirming care is essential, life-saving medical treatment that supports individuals in living as their authentic selves,” they wrote, adding that Trump’s order “is wrong on the science and the law.”

“Despite what the Trump Administration has suggested, there is no connection between ‘female genital mutilation’ and gender-affirming care,” they wrote, referencing a piece of the order that directs the Justice Department to use laws against consumer fraud and female genital mutilation to enforce it. “And no federal law makes gender-affirming........

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