End of transgender care at Children's Hospital L.A. signals nationwide shift...

[Jessica_Rose]

End of transgender care at Children's Hospital L.A. signals nationwide shift under Trump

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/end-of-transgender-care-at-children-s-hospital-l-a-signals-nationwide-shift-under-trump/ar-AA1J87yA?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=7e0e366ec7224cf2b4548f6a38bf208a&ei=142

Story by Sonja Sharp (23 July 2025)

When Children's Hospital Los Angeles first told thousands of patients it was shuttering its pediatric gender clinic last month, Jesse Thorn was distraught but confident he could quickly find a new local care team for his kids.

But by the time the Center for Transyouth Health and Development officially closed its doors on Tuesday, the father of three was making plans to flee the country.

"They're targeting whoever they can," Thorn said. "[I'm afraid] the police will show up at my door because I took my child to see their doctor."

Until this week, Children's was among the largest and oldest pediatric gender clinics in the United States — and one of few providing puberty blockers, hormones and surgical procedures for trans youth on public insurance.

The closure of the renowned program signals a wider unraveling in the availability of care across the country, experts said. That includes in former safe havens such as California, New York and Illinois, where state laws protecting trans-specific healthcare are crumbling under mounting legal pressure and bureaucratic arm-twisting by the Trump administration.

In the last week, University of Chicago Medicine and Children's National in D.C. announced they will end or dramatically scale back services for trans youth, following similar moves by Stanford Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Children's Hospital of Orange County.