Families of Transgender Youth No Longer View Colorado as a Haven...

[Jessica_Rose]

Families of Transgender Youth No Longer View Colorado as a Haven for Gender-Affirming Care

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/families-of-transgender-youth-no-longer-view-colorado-as-a-haven-for-gender-affirming-care/ar-AA1CSjc3?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=a8602b5fbee846aa8706b2898be8612d&ei=129

Story by Rae Ellen Bichell (14 April 2025)

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order refuting the existence of transgender people by saying it is a "false claim that males can identify as and thus become women and vice versa." The following week, he issued another order calling puberty blockers and hormones for anyone under age 19 a form of chemical "mutilation" and "a stain on our Nation's history." It directed agencies to take steps to ensure that recipients of federal research or education grants stop providing it.

Subsequently, health care organizations in Colorado; California; Washington, D.C.; and elsewhere announced they would preemptively comply. In Colorado, that included three major health care organizations: Children's Hospital Colorado, Denver Health, and UCHealth. At the end of January and in early February, the three systems announced changes to the gender-affirming care they provide to patients under 19, effective immediately: no new hormone or puberty blocker prescriptions for patients who hadn't had them before, limited or no prescription renewals for those who had, and no surgeries, though Children's Hospital had never offered it, and such surgery is rare among teens: For every 100,000 trans minors, fewer than three undergo surgery.

Children's Hospital and Denver Health resumed offering puberty blockers and hormones on Feb. 24 and Feb. 19, respectively, after Colorado joined a U.S. District Court lawsuit in Washington state. The court concluded that Trump's orders relating to gender "discriminate on the basis of transgender status and sex." It granted a preliminary injunction blocking them from taking effect in the four states involved in the lawsuit.