New York’s Democratic Attorney General Letitia James warned hospitals Monday that prematurely pausing gender-affirming care for transgender minors in compliance with a recent executive order from President Trump could violate state law.
Trump’s Jan. 28 executive order, one of several dozen the president signed during his first days back in office, broadly targets federal support for transition-related care for transgender children and teenagers up to 19 years old. It directs federal agencies to block government funding for medical institutions, including medical schools and hospitals, that provide puberty blockers, hormones and surgery to youth, causing some facilities to suspend gender-affirming care preemptively over fear they will be stripped of federal dollars needed to keep them up and running.
In a letter sent Monday morning to health care providers and organizations that receive federal funds, James said denying care to transgender New Yorkers violates state laws that protect against discrimination based on sex and gender identity.
“Regardless of the availability of federal funding, we write to further remind you of your obligations to comply with New York State laws,” the letter states. “Electing to refuse services to a class of individuals based on their protected status, such as withholding the availability of services from transgender individuals based on their gender identity or their diagnosis of gender dysphoria, while offering such services to cisgender individuals, is discrimination under New York law.”
Four hospitals in Virginia, Colorado and Washington, D.C., confirmed to The Hill on Monday that they had paused gender-affirming medical care for minors while they evaluate Trump’s order. The New York Times reported last week that a leading New York City hospital system, NYU Langone Health, had begun canceling appointments for transgender children, according to two families whose kids’ appointments were reportedly nixed.
NYU Langone Health has not publicly announced whether it has suspended gender-affirming care. A hospital spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment on James’s letter.
The White House on Monday celebrated reports that hospitals had begun pausing gender-affirming care for transgender youth, writing in a statement that the order is “already having its intended effect.”
Gender-affirming care for transgender adults and minors is considered medically necessary and often lifesaving by every major medical organization, though not every trans person chooses to medically transition or has access to care.
English (United States) ·