VCU and UVA stop transgender youth care under Trump order
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VCU and UVA Health — two of the state's largest hospital systems — have stopped providing gender-affirming care to patients under age 19 to comply with President Trump's executive order.
Why it matters: They're among the first in the country to do it as hospitals nationwide grapple with the administration's attacks against transgender people, which include banning federal funding to any hospitals providing that care to trans youth.
Driving the news: On Thursday, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares told VCU and UVA Health, in a memo obtained by Axios, to immediately stop giving puberty blockers, hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgeries to patients younger than 19.
- Miyares linked to Trump's executive order and called the letter "legal advice to enable the Commonwealth—including its agencies— to protect itself from significant legal risk and substantial financial exposure."
- Virginia Senate Democrats on Friday called it "nothing more than a political threat."
Between the lines: Trump's order says any hospital or institution that doesn't fall in line would be at risk of losing all medical and research-related federal grants.
- Virginia received nearly $1 billion from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health in fiscal year 2024 — about $108,000 per every 1,000 residents.
What they're saying: Harper Seldin, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project, told Axios the order doesn't actually direct hospitals to take any direct action.
- But its effect has been different, which Seldin attributes to "the climate of fear and threats that these executive orders are trying to create."
- "It's to create an environment in which folks who are providing this care, and have been providing this care that families rely on, feel like they cannot continue."
Zoom in: WVTF first reported VCU and the Children's Hospital of Richmond's decision after a mother shared that a Thursday morning appointment for her transgender daughter was canceled.
- VCU Health spokesperson Danielle Pierce told Axios said "Appointments will be maintained to discuss specific care options for patients" but did not share what those options would be or how many patients were seeking this care.
- Neither did UVA.
In a statement to Axios, a Miyares spokesperson said the AG stands by the guidance but did not respond whether it applied to all of Virginia's hospitals.
- By time of publication, Virginia's other major health systems — Inova, Sentara Health, HCA Healthcare, Bon Secours, Carilion Clinic and Riverside Health — hadn't responded whether they would be instituting changes, too.
Reality check: Gender-affirming care is supported by major medical organizations including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association, which concur that gender-affirming care is lifesaving medical care.
- Drugs like puberty blockers are temporary and reversible and used for both trans and non-trans youth who experience early-onset puberty.
- Fewer than 0.1% of adolescents received drugs for gender-affirming care between 2018 and 2022, per a study led by Harvard University researchers and published this month.
- No patient under 12 years old who was transgender or gender diverse received hormones, the study found.
Axios' Maya Goldman contributed to this report.
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