Kaiser Permanente to pause gender-affirming surgeries for patients younger than 19

The Hill | July 24, 2025
Original article can be viewed HERE

Kaiser Permanente will pause gender-affirming surgeries for patients younger than 19 years beginning next month, the nonprofit health giant said Wednesday.

In a statement shared with The Hill, Kaiser — headquartered in Oakland, Calif., and serving more than 12 million members in eight states and Washington, D.C. — cited an evolving “legal and regulatory environment for gender-affirming care” and recent actions by the Trump administration to restrict access to prescription medications, including puberty blockers and hormones, and, in rarer cases, transition-related surgeries for youth.

“Since January, there has been significant focus by the federal government on gender-affirming care, specifically for patients under the age of 19,” Kaiser said in its statement.

On Jan. 20, his first day back in office, President Trump signed an executive order proclaiming that the U.S. recognizes only two unchangeable sexes, male and female, and broadly restricting federal spending on “gender ideology.” The following week, he signed a second order aimed at ending federal support for gender-affirming care for adolescents younger than 19, calling doctors’ provision of such care to youth “a stain on our Nation’s history.”

Two federal judges blocked a portion of the order that threatened to cut off federal funding for institutions that provide gender-affirming care for anyone under 19.

Addressing a joint session of Congress in March, Trump, who campaigned heavily on a promise to ban gender-affirming care for minors, called on lawmakers to pass legislation “permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body.” He has endorsed a bill by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) that would make it illegal to provide gender-affirming care to youth.

Other Trump administration actions to severely limit access to transition-related care include letters to hospitals from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and a recent Federal Trade Commission workshop on “The Dangers of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Minors.”

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice said it sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics “involved in performing transgender medical procedures on children” in investigations involving alleged false statements and health care fraud.

In its statement on Wednesday, Kaiser said it had to “carefully consider the significant risks being created for health systems, clinicians, and patients” in light of the government’s actions.

“After significant deliberation and consultation with internal and external experts including our physicians, we’ve made the difficult decision to pause surgical treatment for patients under the age of 19 in our hospitals and surgical centers. This pause is effective August 29, 2025,” the health care nonprofit said. “All other gender-affirming care treatment remains available. We continue to meet with regulators as well as our clinicians, patients, their families, and the community with the goal of identifying a responsible path forward.”

Kaiser added that other health systems have paused or discontinued transition-related care for young people in response to federal actions.

On Tuesday, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles closed its Center for Transyouth Health and Development under pressure from the Trump administration. In a message posted to its website this week, Children’s National Hospital in Washington stated similarly that it would stop prescribing gender-affirming medications, effective August 30, citing “escalating legal and regulatory risks.”

Other hospital systems, including the University of Chicago Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, have recently announced they no longer will offer gender-affirming care to anyone younger than 19.

The California Nurses Association, which represents roughly 25,000 registered nurses at Kaiser hospitals, denounced the health care nonprofit’s announcement on Wednesday.

“This is pre-emptively giving in to government overreach in health care,” said Lady Rainsard, a registered nurse in plastic surgery at Kaiser San Francisco, in a statement. “Medical providers, not politicians, know what’s best for our patients. Gender-affirming care is safe and effective. As nurses, we always follow the precautionary principle, and we always advocate for our patients. Right now, we deem it a much greater risk to cave to this kind of government overreach than it is to provide this care to our patients, no matter their age.”

California state Sen. Scott Weiner (D) similarly condemned Kaiser’s and other state health care systems’ decision to discontinue care.

“California law is clear: Health systems can’t deny care to trans people. And this is a straight-up denial of care to youth who are under the care of a physician and whose parents have consented to the treatment,” Wiener wrote on the social platform X.

In February, California’s Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta told state hospitals and clinics that they are obligated under the state’s anti-discrimination law to continue providing gender-affirming care, despite the Trump administration’s demands to suspend it.

“Let me be clear: California law has not changed, and hospitals and clinics have a legal obligation to provide equal access to healthcare services,” Bonta said.

A spokesperson for the state attorney general’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Chloe Cole, a conservative political activist and opponent of gender-affirming care following her detransition, sued Kaiser in 2023 for medical negligence. Her suit was brought by the conservative nonprofit Center for American Liberty, LiMandri & Jonna LLP and the Dhillon Law Group, a law practice founded by Harmeet Dhillon, Trump’s assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department.

Cole celebrated Kaiser’s announcement that it would be suspending transition-related surgical care for youth in a post on X. “We are winning!” she wrote. “Thank you to the Trump administration for protecting kids!!!”

Kaiser Permanente to pause gender-affirming surgeries for patients younger than 19

Kaiser Permanente to pause gender-affirming surgeries for patients younger than 19

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