The White House on Monday celebrated reports that some hospitals have stopped providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth in response to an executive order that threatens their federal support.
“Hospitals around the country are taking action to downsize or eliminate their so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ programs,” the White House said in a news release on Monday.
It claimed doctors practicing transgender health care had “maimed and sterilized” children and perpetuated “a radical, false claim that they can somehow change a child’s sex.”
President Trump last week signed a sweeping executive order meant to broadly restrict access to transition-related care for minors, which the order says includes children and teenagers up to 19 years old. Among other provisions, the order directs federal agency heads to block government funding for medical institutions, including medical schools and hospitals, that provide puberty blockers, hormones and surgery to youth.
Hospital systems across the country responded by suspending gender-affirming treatment while they evaluated Trump’s order, which could disrupt care for more than 300,000 transgender minors nationwide.
“We are working to understand and comply with the full implications of the broadly worded order,” said a notice from Denver Health, which added that changes to patients’ medical care are “being handled privately.”
“The executive order which was issued on January 28, 2025 includes criminal and financial consequences for those who do not comply, including placing participation in federal programs including Medicare, Medicaid and other programs administered by HHS at risk. These programs represent a significant portion of Denver Health’s funding, and the executive order specifically states that should we not comply, our participation in these programs is at risk,” the hospital said. “The loss of this funding would critically impair our ability to provide care for the Denver community.”
Children’s National Hospital in Washington similarly said it is “committed to providing compassionate and comprehensive care in accordance with the law.”
“As a result, we are currently pausing all puberty blockers and hormone therapy prescriptions for transgender youth patients, per the guidelines in the Executive Order issued by the White House this week,” the hospital said in a Jan. 30 statement. Children’s National does not offer gender-affirming surgery for minors.
Major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, say gender-affirming care for transgender adults and minors is medically necessary, though not every trans person chooses to medically transition or has access to care.
More than half the nation since 2021 has adopted laws that heavily restrict or ban gender-affirming care for minors. The Supreme Court is set to rule this summer on whether such bans are constitutional.
In its statement on Monday, the White House cheered Denver Health and Children’s National’s announcements that they are suspending gender-affirming care, along with similar statements from hospitals in New York, Virginia, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
The White House’s statement referenced “Northwest Washington Hospital” in Washington, D.C., an institution that does not exist. A hyperlinked Washington Post story referred to Children’s National Hospital in Northwest D.C. as “the Northwest Washington Hospital” on the second reference.
