Children’s Hospital LA Ends ‘Gender Affirming Care’ for Minors Following Federal Pressure
Updated
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), the biggest clinic in the United States that provides medicalized treatments for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, announced last week that it will be halting these services for children effective July 22. The move reportedly is in response to pressure from the Trump administration, which started with an executive order signed in January calling for a halt to federal funding to any institutions or hospitals offering gender-affirming care services to minors. Gender-affirming care includes puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical interventions.
CHLA sent an email to staff, which was later shared with families of patients. The email said, “There is no doubt that this is a painful and significant change to our organization and a challenge to CHLA’s mission, vision, and values.” Another section of the email said, “Taken together, the Attorney General memo, HHS review, and the recent solicitation of tips from the FBI to report hospitals and providers of GAC strongly signal this administration’s intent to take swift and decisive action.”
On May 1, a 400-page review of gender-affirming care was released by HHS, as commissioned by President Trump’s executive order in January. Weeks later, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz sent letters to hospitals and clinics asking them to update their treatment protocols based on the determinations of the HHS report.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) has been providing medicalized treatments for minors for 30 years and is one of the oldest clinics of its type. It is also considered the largest facility of its kind in the country and has served over 3,000 youth patients in the gender-affirming care division of the clinic.
Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, the Medical Director at CHLA’s Center for Transyouth Health and Development, is one of the most prominent figures in the industry for providing gender-affirming care services to minors in the US. The HighWire reported in January about a lawsuit that was filed against Dr. Oson-Kennedy in which the plaintiff alleges lying, misdiagnosis, and medical negligence.
In that suit, Dr. Olson-Kennedy is accused of diagnosing the plaintiff with gender dysphoria based on surface-level statements like “I mostly have boy friends” and “I like boy things.” According to the complaint, Dr. Olson-Kennedy did not perform a mental health evaluation. The complaint alleges that Dr. Olson-Kennedy fast-tracked the plaintiff “onto the conveyor belt of irreversibly damaging puberty blockers (age 12), cross-sex hormones (age 13), and “gender affirming surgery (age 14).”
Dr. Olson-Kennedy was also criticized last fall when she did not release the results of a $9.7 million taxpayer-funded study, citing concerns that the results would be misused or “weaponized.” That study has since been released as a preprint and concluded, “Depression symptoms, emotional health, and CBCL constructs did not change significantly over 24 months.” The paper also concludes, “Given that the mental health of youth with gender dysphoria who are older is often poor, it is likely that puberty blockers prevent the deterioration of mental health.”
Secretary Kennedy, in his letter to hospitals and clinics, emphasized the importance of the Hippocratic oath, the moral guideline for health professionals to “do no harm.” The lawsuit against Dr. Olson-Kennedy alleges that she did not provide informed consent for puberty blockers and falsely stated that they are reversible.
Secretary Kennedy wrote that the risks of medicalized interventions for youth with gender dysphoria may outweigh the benefits. Gender dysphoria is classified as a mental disorder in the DSM-5, so medical interventions are intended to relieve feelings of anxiety and depression.
The HHS report and Secretary Kennedy’s letter both reference the protocols in Finland, Sweden, and Norway, which prioritize psychological interventions for minors with gender dysphoria rather than medical treatments. The United Kingdom also follows a similar protocol after the release of the Cass Report, which is referenced throughout the HHS report.
Following the signing of President Trump’s executive order in January, many US clinics have ceased medical treatments for minors with gender dysphoria. Clinics like CHLA held out until after the HHS report was released and Secretary Kennedy sent the letter encouraging them to change their protocols. Clinics may lose significant federal funding if they continue to provide these treatments to minors.
Santa Clara County announced it would use $1.27 million in reserve currency to counter the loss of federal funds so medical treatments can still be provided to children.
There are at least 21 active lawsuits by detransitioners who allege harm from misdiagnoses and medical treatments provided by doctors and medical clinics. Themis Resource Fund, an independent resource for detransitioners seeking justice, is tracking the ongoing cases.
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling in the next month on whether Tennessee’s gender affirming care ban will be overturned. There are currently 27 states that have enacted some ban against medical treatments for youth while 16 states have passed protective laws. The Trump administration, however, still has federal funding as a way to reduce access to these procedures in states like California that have protective laws in place to prevent the banning of medical gender dysphoria treatments for children.