D.C. Children’s Hospital joins other facilities in ending transgender medical procedures

Children’s National Hospital, in Washington, D.C., has announced that as of August 30 it will no longer be providing prescriptions for "gender-affirming medications."

The hospital recently posted a message on its website stating the decision was made “in light of escalating legal and regulatory risks"and that it will impact the facility's providers and the families it serves.

"Mental health and other support services for LGBT patients remain available," the statement continues. "You are always welcome at Children’s National for your other medical needs.”

The hospital does not perform gender-transitioning surgery for anyone under the age of 18. Its Gender Development Program does not provide hormone therapy to children prior to the start of puberty, and parental consent is required to provide gender-affirming medical care for a minor in the District of Columbia, according to the department's website.

On July 9, the Justice Department sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics who are involved in medical transgender procedures for minors. The agency also said at the time its investigations into such procedures would include looking into "healthcare fraud, false statements and more."

Children's declined to tell The Washington Post whether the hospital, a pediatric Level 1 trauma center, or any of its providers received a subpoena. And a Justice Department spokesman did not respond to the newspaper's requests for comment.

Meanwhile, Children’s is not the only hospital stopping medicalized transition treatment for minors.  

The Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles, is closing its doors Tuesday, after what the hospital's leaders called a "thorough legal and financial assessment."

Rush Medical Center, in Chicago, has also announced it will be stopping "gender-related treatments," according to Fox News.

Both closings come after much scrutiny from the Trump administration about medicalized transition treatments for minors.

In January, President Trump signed an executive order calling these procedures “mutilation” and saying they "must end."

More specifically the order stated; "It is [now] 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.”

“Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions," the order reads. "This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation’s history, and it must end."

In addition, a recently released report by the Department of Health and Human Services stated that medicalized transition treatments for minors carry many risks and “systematic reviews of the evidence have revealed deep uncertainty about the purported benefits of these interventions.”

Hospitals including Children’s National halted such programs at the end of January. However, a judge’s block of  Trump's order prompted hospitals, including Children’s National, to continue their programs, according to the Washington Post.

A recent Supreme Court decision upheld Tennessee’s ban on medicalized transition care for minors.