California Attorney General Issues Guidance on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors
California Attorney General Rob Bonta recently issued guidance warning hospitals that withholding “hormone therapies” and “gender-affirming surgeries” from minors is in violation of state law if they provide similar interventions to cisgender individuals seeking changes to align with their birth genders.
The guidance comes after Children’s Hospital Los Angeles announced it would stop accepting new patients under 19 for transitioning via hormones following an executive order signed by former President Donald Trump, which aimed to ban “chemical and surgical mutilation” for American youth.
Bonta’s office emphasized that California law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and withholding services from transgender individuals while offering them to cisgender individuals constitutes discrimination.
Although the hospital is continuing hormone administration for existing patients under 19, the issue of gender-affirming care remains contentious, especially with insurance companies mandated to cover such care under California law, including Medi-Cal.
However, Trump’s executive order could potentially impact the coverage of gender-affirming care by federally-funded health programs like Medi-Cal, prompting legal challenges from state attorneys general like Bonta who are committed to defending access to care for transgender individuals.
Despite the federal government’s attempts to halt funding for transitioning children, Bonta and a coalition of attorneys general are pushing back, arguing that the order does not provide a basis to threaten or revoke federal funding from hospitals and healthcare providers.
As some hospitals face the loss of federal transgender funding due to ongoing grants and contracts being suspended or canceled, the legal battle over access to gender-affirming care for minors continues.
Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.
