Hospitals pause transgender procedures after Trump executive order

California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Wednesday issued a statement reminding hospitals that the state’s antidiscrimination law requires them to provide transgender interventions for patients. Bonta’s office also wrote a letter specifically to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles after the facility reportedly stopped prescribing hormone treatments and transgender surgeries for patients under the age of 19. In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, the hospital said it was pausing the procedures as staff evaluated the executive order President Donald Trump signed last week prohibiting federal funding for chemical or surgical transgender procedures. Children already receiving hormonal treatment at the hospital will continue to receive the drugs, according to the hospital.

Have other hospitals changed their policies? The Children’s Hospital of Richmond at the Virginia Commonwealth University last week said it would suspend transgender interventions for patients under 19 years old. The University of Virginia also halted the procedures after Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares wrote a letter directing state universities to stop what he characterized as the chemical and surgical mutilation of children. In Colorado, Denver Health and Children’s Hospital Colorado stopped offering the interventions, though the latter claimed it has not provided such treatments for minors. The American Civil Liberties Union last year sued the children’s hospital for not offering transgender interventions. The Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., last week also said it would stop offering the procedures in accordance with Trump’s order.

Meanwhile, parents in New York City told The New York Times that the New York University hospital system had canceled transgender intervention appointments for children, though the system has not publicly commented on the decision.

What have critics of Trump’s executive order had to say? New York Attorney General Letitia James earlier this week told hospitals they would be violating state law if they refused to offer hormone therapies or transgender surgeries to minors. A federal court on Jan. 31 issued a temporary restraining order against Trump’s directive after 23 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the order. The U.S. Department of Justice said it would comply with the court order while the case continues. Meanwhile, a group of families and transgender activists filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration saying the order harms children by denying them interventions prescribed by a medical professional.

Dig deeper: Read Addie Offereins’ report in WORLD magazine about how a national trans activist group is prioritizing winning legal battles over patient health.