The Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., announced on Friday that it would no longer prescribe transgender-related medication to its patients under growing pressure from the Trump administration.
Effective Aug. 30, Children’s National will no longer prescribe its patients so-called “gender-affirming” medications — such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy — citing “escalating legal and regulatory risks.” Children’s National is the latest major hospital system to discontinue its transgender-related services offered to minors after the Trump administration vowed to fight what it describes as the “barbaric practice of surgically and chemically maiming and sterilizing children.”
“We know this change will have a significant impact on affected patients, families and staff. Our care teams are working directly with families of current patients to support them,” the hospital said in its Friday announcement.
In January, the hospital announced that it would pause all puberty blockers and hormone therapy prescriptions to youth following Trump’s executive order eliminating all federal funding for the chemical and surgical mutilation of children and threatened legal consequences for institutions that support the practices. Attorney General Pam Bondi in April directed federal attorneys to investigate and prosecute doctors who perform or attempt to perform sex change surgeries on minors.
Children’s National, through its Gender Development Program, has been “supporting the gender needs of youth and their families for the past 20 years,” according to its website. While Children’s National stated in January that it “does not perform gender affirming surgery for minors,” at least two children have undergone transgender-related surgeries at the hospital, according to Do No Harm, an advocacy group fighting back against gender ideology in the medical field.
While the hospital system will cease prescribing gender transition-related medications, it will continue to provide “mental health and other support services for LGBT patients.”
Children’s National did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Other major hospitals, such as the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, have also announced in recent weeks that they will stop providing transgender services to minors, while the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles announced that it will be shutting down altogether on July 22.
Between 2019 and 2023, U.S. hospitals billed nearly $120 million for transgender procedures carried out on nearly 14,000 minors, according to Do No Harm.
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