Blue state’s hospitals finally stop giving kids transgender hormones – for now

Two Colorado hospitals have agreed to stop giving children transgender drugs after the Trump administration promised an investigation.

Children’s Hospital Colorado and Denver Health both announced on Friday that they suspended issuing new and renewing current prescriptions for cross-sex hormones for minors, according to The Colorado Sun. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in December referred one hospital to the inspector general after they refused to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for an end to the “chemical and surgical mutilation” of children.

“We recognize the anxiety and grief that this continued uncertainty around access to gender affirming care creates for those who have shown unwavering dedication and commitment to supporting children in embracing their true selves,” Children’s Hospital Colorado wrote in a note to patients of the hospital’s TRUE Center for Gender Diversity, according to the Sun. “We continue to believe that all families, including the families of transgender children, should have the ability to seek and receive the expert medical care their child needs to thrive.”

In response to the president’s directive, HHS released a series of proposed regulations in December “to bar hospitals from performing sex-rejecting procedures on children under age 18 as a condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid programs.”

“These changes, which are made necessary by the actions of HHS, substantially affect access to critical health services,” Denver Health said in a statement, according to the Sun. “We also are concerned that the important relationships built between our providers and patients to help make informed decisions about their care are being disrupted.”

“After careful review of the many escalating actions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to restrict health care institutions and individuals from providing gender affirming care to youth under the age of 18, Denver Health has made the difficult decision to suspend gender affirming care to youth, including puberty blocking prescriptions and hormone therapy; surgeries were stopped early in 2025,” a spokesman for Denver Health said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “These changes, which are made necessary by the actions of HHS, substantially affect access to critical health services. We also are concerned that the important relationships built between our providers and patients to help make informed decisions about their care are being disrupted. We are taking the appropriate steps to ensure our patients and families have the information they need at this time.”

Children’s Hospital Colorado did not respond to a DCNF request for comment.

“Today I again referred for investigation to [the Office of Inspector General at HHS] another hospital for failure to meet recognized standards of health care per the [HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] declaration that sex-rejecting procedures for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective – Children’s Hospital Colorado,” HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart said in a Dec. 30 X post. “Sadly, it may not be the last referral. [HHS Office of the General Counsel] will always take every possible action to ensure children all across the nation are safe and protected.

Several legal battles have plagued the administration’s attempts to defund child sex changes. Two separate injunctions were issued by courts in March, preventing the administration from defunding hospitals that continue to offer such care. In late December, 19 states and the District of Columbia sued HHS over its proposed regulations, accusing the administration of attempting to “unilaterally change medical standards by posting a document online.”

Due to these legal challenges, many hospitals have continued providing sex change hormones to children across the country.

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