More Health Providers Drop Gender Affirming Care for Minors

I’ve lost track of how many hospitals and medical groups have stopped offering gender affirming care for minors. The Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles was one of the first. Children’s National Hospital in DC followed. And a few days later Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Yale New Haven Health, the University of Chicago Medical Center and Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente all made similar announcements.

Tacoma children’s hospital joined the club earlier this month.

The MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma, the only place youth can receive gender-affirming health care in Pierce County, has stopped accepting new patients, is no longer taking a wait list and is no longer filling new prescriptions for hormone-replacement therapy or puberty blockers starting Sept. 12, The News Tribune confirmed last month. 

The move comes as Mary Bridge Children’s also removed many gender-affirming care resources from its website.

Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio was next:

The hospital said in a statement it’s ending all gender-affirming medications, like puberty blockers and hormone therapy, effective Sept. 26. The change will impact all trans patients, even those that were “grandfathered in” when the Ohio Statehouse passed House Bill 68, a contested 2023 law banning youth from receiving such treatment.

“Although we are currently in compliance with state and federal regulations, in order to proactively plan and support our providers and patients in a rapidly changing regulatory environment, Nationwide Children’s providers will discontinue prescribing gender-affirming medications,” the statement said.

And just a few days ago Corewell Health in Michigan made the same call. As with all the others, the goal is to avoid being sued.

Michigan’s Corewell Health confirmed that it will no longer provide gender-affirming care to minors, such as prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy.

The health system says the decision was made “given the serious risk of legal and regulatory action.”

“Like many health care systems across the country, we made this decision to protect both our health care providers and our patients. We will continue to compassionately address the health needs of our patients who are in transition or wish to transition, including providing mental health support,” Corewell said in a statement.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel expressed her disappointment that no one wants to volunteer to lead the resistance.

“The decision by Corewell Health to end certain forms of essential healthcare for minors is deeply disappointing. They have chosen to capitulate to the federal administration’s discriminatory campaign against the trans community, despite Corewell not being a target of any federal action in this realm. Corewell’s shortsighted approach to conform their treatment options and “obey in advance” fails to adequately consider the long-term consequences to the health, safety and well-being of their patients. Michigan law has not changed; gender affirming care remains legal and is approved healthcare by leading healthcare associations,” Nessel said in a statement.

“The Department of Attorney General stands with all of Michigan’s patients and the many medical institutions that continue to respect the law, eschew the discriminatory actions preferred by the federal administration, adhere to science as practiced and prescribed by expert physicians, and choose to take on the fight against those targeting their patients for political purposes.”

Adhering to science in this case means following the drumbeat of the ideologically captured medical institutions who refuse to acknowledge the serious doubts about gender affirming care, doubts that have led to a pause on such activity in Scandinavia and the UK.

It really has been a tough few months for the left between hospitals pausing the delivery of puberty blockers to children and Planned Parenthood clinics shuttering nationwide. Let’s hope the trend continues for another 3 1/2 years.

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