In a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal district court, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson argued that the Department of Health and Human Services’ final rule, which takes effect next month, violates patients’ constitutional rights and the purpose of the ACA to increase access to health care and insurance, by “allowing broad discrimination to interfere with important medical care.”

The lawsuit cites the US Supreme Court’s June 15 ruling, saying that the court held that “discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender status is unlawful discrimination because of sex,” and accuses HHS of defying the high court’s decision by publishing its rule.

The lawsuit also calls the Trump administration’s rule “arbitrary and capricious, and an abuse of discretion.”

The state is seeking an injunction that would stop HHS from enforcing the rule and for the rule to be voided.

CNN has reached out to HHS for comment.

HHS’s final rule repeals the 2016 rule’s definition of “on the basis of sex,” but the agency has declined to replace it with a new regulatory definition.

The agency said in June that it would eliminate “certain provisions of the 2016 Rule that exceeded the scope of the authority delegated by Congress in Section 1557” and would enforce Section 1557 “by returning to the government’s interpretation of sex discrimination according to the plain meaning of the word ‘sex’ as male or female and as determined by biology.”

In its lawsuit, Washington argues that the harm to residents would be “substantial and far-reaching” if the rule takes effect.

The Washington State Department of Health estimates more than 82,000 LGBTQ patients will lose protection from discrimination in healthcare and as many as 16,000 transgender patients will lose healthcare coverage for gender affirming healthcare services, the lawsuit says.

The state warned that patients’ loss in healthcare coverage for these services would result in “destructive mental health consequences including depression, substance abuse, and suicide.”

“We should be working to eliminate discrimination in our health care system, not allowing it,” Ferguson said in a press release Friday. “President (Donald) Trump’s unlawful attempt to roll back anti-discrimination protections under the Affordable Care Act directly threatens the health and lives of Washingtonians. We’re in the middle of a pandemic — broad health care coverage has rarely been more critical.”

HHS announced the final rule during June, which is Pride Month, an annual celebration of the LGBTQ community, and on the four-year anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, in which 49 people were killed at a popular LGBTQ venue in Orlando.