Under intense federal pressure and legal risk, Children’s National Hospital (CNH) in Washington, D.C. announced last week it will stop providing harmful and potentially irreversible puberty blockers and hormones for children. According to CNH’s “A Message for Existing and New Patients,” the hospital’s gender interventions will cease August 30 and cited “escalating legal and regulatory risks” as the reason for its decision.

The hospital's policy shift follows President Donald Trump's January 28 Executive Order 14187, titled "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation." The order bans federal funding and support for gender-intervention procedures for individuals under 19, and labels puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and irreversible surgeries as "chemical and surgical mutilation." The order states taxpayer dollars will not be used to pay for the "so-called" gender interventions attempting to change "a child from one sex to another," which involves "destructive and life-altering procedures." CNH noted its Gender Development Program did not perform mutilating surgeries to remove healthy body parts.

According to a White House official, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is in the final stages of making a “new rule” that mandates all hospitals receiving federal Medicare or Medicaid funding to stop providing “sex trait modifications to minors.”

According to a White House official, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is in the final stages of making a “new rule” that mandates all hospitals receiving federal Medicare or Medicaid funding to stop providing “sex trait modifications to minors.” The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has also increased the pressure on some pediatric medical providers by recently issuing 20 subpoenas seeking information on their gender interventions for minors. While it is unclear whether CNH was subpoenaed, President Trump’s executive order instructs the DOJ to prioritize investigations of gender interventions under suspect practices akin to “female genital mutilation,” and to coordinate with state prosecutors.

In addition to federal blowback, CNH faces legal scrutiny from its gender program in the form of a $100 million medical malpractice lawsuit filed by the parents of a teenage patient. The lawsuit filed in March 2024 alleges negligence, religious discrimination, child trafficking, and long-term harm resulting from the hospital’s gender interventions. Plaintiffs claim that their teenage son, who was admitted for autism-related issues, was subsequently held by the hospital and subjected to “gender transition” without parental consent. According to the lawsuit, the hospital refused to release the boy back to the parents on account of their Christian beliefs unless they changed their religion and affirmed LGBTQ identities.

The lawsuit alleges CNH gave the parents “four choices for their child’s future:”

• They would “[l]et him come home on the condition that his parents treat him as a girl” with a new female name.

• “Put him in a long-term mental treatment facility.”

• “Put him in a college dorm that would be more supportive of his gender identity.”

• “Do not read particular passages of the Holy Bible in your home, even though you and the child have always read and studied the entire Holy Bible as Christians are supposed to do; if you do not agree to change your religious views, then you will not regain custody of your child."

Despite the boy indicating he did not want to become a girl, the hospital used Child Protective Services to remove the boy from his parents, the lawsuit stated. The boy ultimately became a ward of the State of Maryland living with the hospital’s gender-confused chaplain. The parents allege the hospital began “sex-change” procedures in the form of “mental re-programming” and subjected him to sex-disease testing. The parents also allege that photographs emerged online of the boy appearing to be “drugged” and “trafficked.” The lawsuit seeks a trial by jury against 15 named defendants from CNH. The case appears to still be in the discovery phase and no trial dates have been set.

Another major health care provider, Kaiser Permanente, stated July 23 that it would stop medically mutilating surgeries for minors under 19 beginning August 29. However, the health care giant stated it would continue administering puberty blockers and hormones to gender-confused children. Kaiser Permanente is also subject to a lawsuit over its gender program. Chloe Cole, a woman who had gender surgeries as a minor and later overcame gender confusion, has sued the provider for rushing her into irreversible surgeries without full consent or treating the underlying mental health issues she had at the time. In April 2024, the Superior Court of California ruled the lawsuit could move forward.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Gender interventions on children are morally and scientifically indefensible. Any hospital abusing children in this way should lose funding and come under investigation. The insanity of gender ideology and greed in the medical community has children paying the price in the form of irreversible harm and regret. The medical profession needs to return to sound science to treat mental health issues with proven psychiatric therapies to heal rather than harm.”