Children's Hospital LA Pauses Gender-Affirming Hormone Treatment For Youths

LOS ANGELES, CA — Children's Hospital Los Angeles became one of the largest children's hospitals in the nation to pause hormonal therapy for gender-affirming care patients this week in the wake of President Donald Trump's executive order banning such medical treatment for transgender minors.

The move prompted a swift response from California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who warned that California's antidiscrimination laws obligate hospitals to provide gender-affirming care to patients.

The kerfuffle stems from Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directive on freezing federal funding and his executive order on gender-affirming care such as hormone therapy, puberty blockers and transgender medical procedures on people under 19.

The threat of losing federal funding has prompted many hospitals and nonprofits to reassess diversity and transgender services — both of which Trump are targeting by way of the federal purse string.

Children's Hospital Los Angeles issued a statement regarding its decision to stop providing a full range of care for transgender youth. The pause in hormonal therapy does not apply to patients already in treatment.

"At this time, CHLA is pausing the initiation of hormonal therapies for all gender-affirming care patients under the age of 19 and maintaining the existing pause on gender-affirming surgeries on minors," the hospital told Patch. "Current patients already receiving treatment will continue with their course of care. We continue to carefully evaluate the Executive Order to fully understand its implications. The physical and mental health, safety, and well-being of all of our patients remains our highest priority. CHLA will continue to support our patients and their families with access to robust mental health and social support services, ensuring our patients continue to have access to high-quality care and the best possible health outcomes."

While the pause brings the hospital inline with Trump's priorities, it puts the hospital in conflict with California's, Bonta said Wednesday.

“California supports the rights of transgender youth to live their lives as their authentic selves,” said Bonta. “We will not let the President turn back the clock or deter us from upholding California values. I understand that the President’s executive order on gender-affirming care has created some confusion. Let me be clear: California law has not changed, and hospitals and clinics have a legal obligation to provide equal access to healthcare services.”

Bonta reminded Children's Hospital Los Angeles, as well as others responding to the president's orders, that in response to a lawsuit filed by California and other Democratic states, federal agencies “cannot pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate any awards or obligations on the basis of the OMB memo, or on the basis of the President’s recently issued Executive Orders.”

The recent executive order pertaining to gender-affirming care for minors does not provide federal agencies with any basis to threaten or revoke federal funding from hospitals and federally funded healthcare providers, he added.

Hospitals are bound by California law, however, he said.

California law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

According to a statement by Bonta's office, "Electing to refuse services to a class of individuals based on their protected status, such as withholding services from transgender individuals based on their gender identity or their diagnosis of gender dysphoria, while offering such services to cisgender individuals, is discrimination. California families seeking gender-affirming care, and the doctors and staff who provide it, are protected under state laws."

Bonta joined a coalition of 14 attorneys general Wednesday in a statement pushing back against Trump's executive order.

"The Trump Administration’s recent Executive Order is wrong on the science and the law. Despite what the Trump Administration has suggested, there is no connection between “female genital mutilation” and gender-affirming care, and no federal law makes gender-affirming care unlawful. President Trump cannot change that by Executive Order," they said in a written statement.

"State attorneys general will continue to enforce state laws that provide access to gender-affirming care, in states where such enforcement authority exists, and we will challenge any unlawful effort by the Trump Administration to restrict access to it in our jurisdictions.”