VCU halts ‘gender-affirming care’ for minors after Trump order
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) will cease providing 'gender-affirming care' for children in response to the Trump administration's policies.
The Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU announced the policy change on Tuesday, 'based upon current understanding of federal and state directives.'
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) will cease providing “gender-affirming care” for children in response to the Trump administration’s policies.
The Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU announced the policy change on Tuesday, “based upon current understanding of federal and state directives.”
“As has been the case with other children’s hospitals and academic medical centers across the country, this decision comes after a thoughtful and thorough assessment that revealed no other viable options at this time,” the announcement states.
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President Trump signed an executive order in January, threatening the removal of federal funding to any institution that continued to provide “gender affirming care” to children, labeling the practice “mutilation.”
“Countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding,” the order says.
“Accordingly, it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures,” it continues.
Quickly following the executive order, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares sent memos to the University of Virginia (UVA) Health and VCU Health to ensure that the institutions complied with the federal order.
In February, UVA Health announced it would continue providing “gender-affirming care” for current patients. However, it said it would no longer take any new patients.
Many health care institutions connected to universities have responded to the federal directive by no longer providing such procedures for minors.
Yale University recently announced that it is ending its “pediatric gender program.”
Similarly, Illinois’ Rush University Medical Center and the University of Chicago Medicine Center also halted their “gender-affirming care” programs this month, citing President Trump’s executive order.
In May, Penn Medicine, affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, stated it would no longer offer child “gender-affirming” surgeries.
