California Attorney General Issues Guidance on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

California Attorney General Rob Bonta recently issued guidance warning hospitals that withholding “hormone therapies” and “gender-affirming surgeries” from minors is a violation of state law if similar interventions are offered to “cisgender” individuals seeking changes to align with their birth genders. This includes individuals with birth or hormonal issues.

The guidance comes in response to a decision by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to stop accepting new patients under 19 for transitioning via hormones after President Donald Trump signed an executive order aiming to ban and terminate “chemical and surgical mutilation” for American youth.

California law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and Bonta’s office emphasized that refusing services to transgender individuals while offering them to cisgender individuals constitutes discrimination. Families seeking gender-affirming care are protected under state laws.

While Children’s Hospital Los Angeles continues hormone administration to existing patients under 19, the landscape of gender-affirming care may be changing. California law mandates insurance companies to cover gender-affirming care, including taxpayer-funded Medi-Cal.

However, Trump’s executive order seeks to halt funding for transitioning children, potentially impacting coverage under federally-funded health programs like Medi-Cal. Bonta, along with other state attorneys general, has challenged the federal funding freeze and is interpreting the U.S. Department of Justice’s notice to apply to Trump’s executive order.

Some hospitals are already experiencing a loss of federal transgender funding as agencies suspend grants and contracts. Legal challenges are being prepared to regain any lost funding.

Sources:
The Center Square,
CalMatters