Texas and four other states on Tuesday filed a lawsuit that seeks to block implementation of federal rules that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.

Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kentucky and Kansas joined Texas in the lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of three medical organizations.

The suit was announced by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Franciscan Alliance, a Christian hospital network. A second plaintiff, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, is also affiliated with Christian groups.

“[T]he Regulation forces doctors to perform controversial and sometimes harmful medical procedures ostensibly designed to permanently change an individual's sex – including the sex of children,” the lawsuit states. “Under the new Regulation, a doctor must perform these procedures even when they are contrary to the doctor's medical judgment and could result in significant, long-term medical harm. Thus, the Regulation represents a radical invasion of the federal bureaucracy into a doctor's medical judgment.”

The states claim that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is attempting “to impose these dramatic new requirements” by redefining “sex” in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to include transgender individuals.

The regulation forces healthcare professionals “to violate their deeply held religious beliefs,” according to the lawsuit.

Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), denied the lawsuit's claims, saying that the rule “doesn't take away a doctor's ability to make informed decisions in the best interest of their patients.”

“What the doctor can't do is say, 'I won't treat you because you're transgender,” she told The Texas Tribune.

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Reed O'Conner, who earlier this week sided with Texas in a separate case involving transgender rights.

(Related: Gay groups criticize judge's decision to block federal guidance on transgender students.)

HRC Communications Director Jay Brown criticized Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's involvement in the lawsuits. “Ken Paxton's continued attacks on transgender Americans are politically motivated, designed to intimidate and simply beyond the pale,” he said.