Children's Hospital LA lifts ban on gender-affirming care for patients under 19

LOS ANGELES - Three weeks after announcing a pause in the initiation of hormonal therapy for all gender-affirming care patients under age 19, the Children's Hospital Los Angeles is reversing course.

Hormone therapy for new patients under 19 resumes

What we know:

Effective immediately, Children's Hospital Los Angeles will continue providing gender-affirming care for all minors. 

This comes weeks after the hospital announced it would ban such care for patients under age 19 due to an executive order put in place by President Donald Trump. 

"CHLA must carefully consider the implications of state and federal policies on our ability to provide care to our patients," CHLA said in a statement.

Trump's executive order

The backstory:

In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting federal support for gender transition for minors.

The order directs that federally-run insurance programs, including TRICARE for military families and Medicaid, exclude coverage for such care and calls on the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue litigation and legislation to oppose the practice.

Medicaid programs in some states cover gender-affirming care. The new order suggests that the practice could end, and targets hospitals and universities that receive federal money and provide the care.

On his Truth Social platform, Trump called gender-affirming care "barbaric medical procedures."

The order encourages Congress to adopt a law allowing those who receive gender-affirming care and come to regret it, or their parents, to sue the providers.

It also directs the Justice Department to prioritize investigating states that protect access to gender-affirming care and "facilitate stripping custody from parents" who oppose the treatments for their children.

Since then, two federal judges have paused Trump's executive order. U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King granted a temporary restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington state, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration. The followig day, a federal judge in Baltimore temporarily blocked the executive order in response to a separate lawsuit filed on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children.

‘Commitment to our patients'

What they're saying:

In a statement released to FOX 11 on Monday, CHLA said it had briefly paused the therapies "to allow time to assess the potential impact of recent federal policy changes."

The full statement reads:

"Like many pediatric hospitals and providers across the country, we are actively monitoring the shifting political and regulatory landscape to better understand and respond to actions that threaten our ability to provide care, conduct groundbreaking research, and train the next generation of child health clinicians. As the largest pediatric safety net provider in California, with over 70% of our patients insured through Medicaid, CHLA must carefully consider the implications of state and federal policies on our ability to provide care to our patients. As we work to address the challenges posed to CHLA and our ability to deliver on our mission, we urge state and national leaders to help us ensure CHLA is well-positioned to continue offering care to all its patients now and in the future.  

For over 30 years, we have been a recognized leader in providing high-quality, age-appropriate, and medically necessary gender-affirming care and support to our patients and their families—a track record we are deeply proud of. At the center of this care is our commitment to our patients' physical and mental health, safety, and well-being. CHLA is committed to maintaining its capacity to deliver the highest standard for our patients and their families."

Trump policy concerns

What they're saying:

Kristen Chapman, the mother of one of the plaintiffs in the case, said her family moved to Richmond, Virginia, from Tennessee in 2023 because of a ban on gender-affirming care in their home state.

"I thought Virginia would be a safe place for me and my daughter," she said in a statement to The Associated Press. "Instead, I am heartbroken, tired, and scared."

Michel Lee Garrett, a trans woman whose teenage child only partially identifies as a girl and uses they/them pronouns, said such policies aim to erase trans people from public life but will never succeed.

"I’ll always support my child’s needs, regardless of what policies may be in place or what may come ... even if it meant trouble for me," Garrett told the publication.

"It’s very clear that this order, in combination with the other orders that we’ve seen over the past week, are meant to not protect anyone in this country, but rather to single-mindedly drive out transgender people of all ages from all walks of civic life," said Harper Seldin, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ & HIV Project.

"These policies are not serving anyone," said Shelby Chestnut, executive director of the Transgender Law Center. "They’re only creating confusion and fear for all people."