America's Biggest Medical Facility For Transgender Youth Is Shutting Down

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), the nation’s largest provider of gender procedures for youth identifying as transgender, announced it will shut down its program on July 22, citing mounting legal and financial pressures stemming from the Trump administration’s policies.

Protesters gather outside as the Supreme Court hears a case over banning transgender procedures for minors in Washington on Dec. 4, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

In a recent statement, CHLA described the decision as “heartbreaking” for staff, adding that it followed a thorough legal and financial review in light of “the increasingly severe impacts of recent administrative actions and proposed policies.”

The planned closure has led to demonstrations outside CHLA in recent days, with protester Sage Sol Pitchenik telling The Associated Press that “trans kids are done being quiet” and that a facility like CHLA “meant the world” for transgender youth.

CHLA’s announcement comes in the context of President Donald Trump’s executive order, issued shortly after his second term began in January, which bars federal support for gender transition procedures for individuals under 19.

Trump’s order said such treatments—including puberty blockers and surgeries—are medically risky and potentially irreversible, stating that many minors lack the maturity to fully grasp the long-term consequences. It also prohibits federal insurance programs like Tricare and Medicaid from covering these treatments, directs the Department of Justice to pursue legal action against providers, and suspends funding for hospitals and universities offering transgender procedures, which it described as “chemical and surgical mutilation.”

Following the order, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a directive suspending federal grants, loans, and financial assistance related to transgender programs pending further review. In response, a coalition of 23 state attorneys general sued in federal court to block the OMB directive, arguing that the funding freeze was unlawful.

Meanwhile, CHLA’s imminent closure follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent 6–3 ruling upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-related medical treatments for minors—a decision that could support similar laws nationwide.

Tennessee’s law prohibits health care providers from administering puberty blockers or hormones for the purpose of “enabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex” or “treating purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity.”

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion that such state laws need only meet a “rational basis” test, suggesting that similar restrictions in other states will probably withstand legal challenges. Roberts said Tennessee’s law focuses on age, not sex-based discrimination, and cited concerns about the risks and irreversible impacts of transgender medical procedures for minors.

Several other hospitals, including facilities in Colorado, Illinois, Virginia, and Washington, DC, have also paused transgender procedures for minors in response to the evolving legal landscape.

Rush University Medical Center in Illinois recently became the latest Chicago-area hospital to stop transgender procedures for minors, with a spokesperson telling WBEZ Chicago that Rush had “paused” hormonal care for new patients under 18, though it will continue to provide mental health services to transgender youth.

Sam Dorman contributed to this report.