A U.S. district judge has placed a nationwide block on a Biden-Harris administration rule mandating that federally funded hospitals perform surgical interventions to alter the body’s appearance to mimic that of the opposite sex.

This comes after Texas and Montana sued the administration over changes it made in May to the Affordable Care Act’s section prohibiting discrimination based on sex.

The rule broadened the meaning of “sex” to include “gender identity.” This meant that federally funded hospitals were required to perform so-called “gender-reassignment” surgeries or face a range of penalties, including having their funding removed.

Texas and Montana argued that the change violated portions of state law that prohibit such surgical interventions performed on minors’ sexual and reproductive organs and ban Medicaid funding for these operations.

The two states argued that the Biden administration has given them “an impossible choice” to either “violate and abandon state law or risk devastating financial loss.”

The ruling, issued on Aug. 30 by Judge Jeremy Kernodle for the Eastern District of Texas, expanded an earlier court decision that blocked the mandate for hospitals in Texas and Montana. Kernodle said the Biden administration’s mandate is “unlawful” in all hospitals, not just those in Texas and Montana.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling a “major victory for Americans across the country.”

“When Biden and Harris sidestep the Constitution to force their unlawful, extremist agenda on the American public, we are fighting back and stopping them,” said Paxton.

The Biden administration will likely appeal the ruling to the 5th Circuit Appellate Court.