UPMC has confirmed it will end gender-affirming care for patients 18 and younger in response to the Trump administration\u2019s policies aimed at transgender youth.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for UPMC, the region\u2019s largest hospital network, said federal guidance has made it clear clinicians who provide care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy run the risk of criminal prosecution. UPMC will continue to provide behavioral health support and other care \u201cwithin the bounds of the law,\u201d the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson declined to say when care will end, but impacted families have been told June 30 is the cutoff.<\/p>\n
Del Treese, a resident of Pittsburgh\u2019s Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood, first learned his 16-year-old son\u2019s hormone therapy may be in jeopardy in May through a digital notification from UPMC. It urged the family to meet \u201cas soon as possible\u201d with a doctor to discuss \u201cwhat recent federal directives mean for your child\u2019s treatment plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
A couple of weeks later, a UPMC physician broke the news.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s terrible,\u201d Treese said. \u201cAll you want to do when your child is hurting or needs something is provide it for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gender-affirming care is backed by all major U.S. medical associations as valuable to the health and well-being of youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the psychological distress caused by a difference in one\u2019s gender identity and sex assigned at birth. Such care is not, however, sought by all young transgender people.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration takes a much dimmer view of gender-affirming care.<\/p>\n
In January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for stricter limitations on gender-affirming care and threatening to withhold federal funds from institutions that provide it. And, in April, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Department of Justice to support prosecution of doctors who administer gender-affirming care.<\/p>\n
None of this means gender-affirming care for people 18 and younger is illegal, according to Vic Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Executive orders can direct the government how to act, he noted, but they do not carry the same weight as legislation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is no different than the threats the administration has lobbed against public education, against universities, against law firms,\u201d Walczak said. \u201cYou see some capitulating and others fighting back, and the ones that are fighting back are by and large winning in court.\u201d<\/p>\n