UChicago discontinues gender-affirming care for minors

UChicago Medicine has discontinued gender-affirming care for minors "effective immediately," the latest Chicago hospital to do so in recent months.

The health system said it was a "difficult decision," but that it suspended the care to ensure it could continue to care for “all Medicare and Medicaid patients,” which make up “the majority of those [UChicago Medicine] serves.”

The health system said it was working with patients on a plan going forward, but didn’t elaborate. It did not answer questions about what specific services were being cut or if patients under 18 or 19 were impacted.

“We understand that this news will have a significant impact on our patients,” UChicago spokesperson Lorna Wong wrote in a statement to the Sun-Times Friday. “As the largest Medicaid provider in Illinois, this step is necessary to ensure UChicago Medicine can continue serving our broader community and delivering on our mission.”

Crain’s Chicago Business broke the news Friday afternoon.

The shift comes just days after Rush University Medical Center “paused” its hormonal care for new patients under 18. The hospital hasn’t provided gender-affirming surgery for minors since 2023.

Rush will still provide all gender-affirming care to adults and current minor patients, and mental health services and social services are still available to new minor patients seeking gender affirming care.

Wednesday, Ald. Jesse Fuentes (26th) introduced a City Council resolution signed by 22 other councilmembers condemning Rush and Lurie Children’s Hospital — which paused gender-affirming surgery for patients under 19 in February, even surgeries that had already been planned.

The resolution didn’t mention UI Health, which was sued in February by advocacy groups for canceling surgery for a 17-year-old transgender boy. The hospital has not clarified what services are or are not provided.

The hospital systems’ decisions come despite Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joining 14 other attorneys general in February in vowing to protect access to the treatment, and Illinois and Chicago both having shield laws protecting access to gender affirming care and the providers who prescribe it.

Each decision is a response to President Donald Trump’s January 28 executive order that threatened to cut federal research grants from institutions, such as hospitals, that offer gender affirming care — such as hormone therapy, puberty blockers and surgeries — to patients under the age of 19.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

The U.S. Department of Justice last week announced that it had sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and lawyers it said performed “transgender medical procedures on children.” And the federal government on Thursday shut down the 988 suicide prevention hotline’s specialized services for LGBTQ+ people.

But medical organizations like the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics support access to gender-affirming care. A 2021 study from the Journal of the American Medical Association also concluded access to gender-affirming care is linked to improved psychological health and lower rates of suicidal ideation.

“These hospital systems rely on these federal funds, and unfortunately trans kids are being targeted to the point that the federal government is threatening other patients,” said Asher McMaher, executive director of nonprofit Trans Up Front, which advocates and provides services for trans Illinoisans.

Channyn Lynn Parker, CEO of BraceSpaceAlliance and interim CEO of Equality IL, said she hoped those angered by the decisions recognized that the federal government was putting hospitals in an impossible situation given the funding threats.

She urged people to call on Illinois and other local officials specifically to reinforce the state and city’s sanctuary city status for gender-affirming care.

“We need to be asking our government officials what they are doing to protect these health systems and backing up the attorney general who said he will defend this care," Parker said.

But state Rep. Kelly Cassidy said there are limits to state lawmakers' power. The state’s shield laws cannot withstand certain federal attacks.

“At the end of the day, there’s no law we can pass that force someone to provide care they don’t want to provide,” Cassidy said. “We can’t force [hospitals] to risk Medicare or research funding.”

One thing was certain to her. “People will die because of the actions of the federal government," she said.