Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Resumes Irreversible Gender Procedures on Confused Kids

Under pronounced pressure from the Trump Administration, the notorious Children’s Hospital Los Angeles announced early this month that it was pausing the initiation of so-called gender-affirming care for minors.

In response, California Attorney General Rob Bonta threatened to find the Hospital guilty of discrimination if it did not start providing the treatments. Do teenagers have a right to be mutilated by doctors? Regardless, the pressure tactics seem to have worked.

On February 21, the Hospital reversed itself and announced that it would start initiating the hormonal treatments again. With backing from Bonta the Hospital seems determined to fight the Trump Administration in court.

The initial policy change was a major reversal for an institution that has been forcing these procedures on impressionable and confused kids. The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is currently being sued because its youth gender clinic forced irreversible procedures, including a mastectomy, on a confused young girl.

The impetus for the policy change by the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital was an executive order that President Donald Trump issued on January 28 that vowed to cut off federal funding to institutions that provide transition services to minors. The order was titled “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.”

It said that, “Countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding.  Moreover, these vulnerable youths’ medical bills may rise throughout their lifetimes, as they are often trapped with lifelong medical complications, a losing war with their own bodies, and, tragically, sterilization.”

Therefore, “it is 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.”

In response to the executive order, on February 4, the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles announced the policy change, saying in a statement that, “At this time, CHLA is pausing the initiation of hormonal therapies for all gender affirming care patients under the age of 19 and maintaining the existing pause on gender-affirming surgeries on minors. Current patients already receiving treatment will continue with their course of care. We continue to carefully evaluate the Executive Order to fully understand its implications. The physical and mental health, safety and well-being of all of our patients remains our highest priority. CHLA will continue to support our patients and their families with access to mental health and social support services, ensuring our patients continue to have access to high-quality care and the best possible health outcomes.”

This was arguably only a modest shift since the hospital said it would continue to provide the puberty blockers to teenage patients–it just was not initiating new procedures. Nevertheless, the blowback was fierce.

The next day, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent the Hospital a letter saying it was obligated under California’s anti-discrimination laws to provide the transition services to minors.

California supports the rights of transgender youth to live their lives as their authentic selves,” said Bonta.  “We will not let the President turn back the clock or deter us from upholding California values. I understand that the President’s executive order on gender affirming care has created some confusion. Let me be clear: California law has not changed, and hospitals and clinics have a legal obligation to provide equal access to healthcare services.”

In his February 5 letter, Bonta said that “As a reminder, California law, including the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Civil Code section 51, and Government Code section 11135, prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Electing to refuse services to a class of individuals based on their protected status, such as withholding services from transgender individuals based on their gender identity or their diagnosis of gender dysphoria, while offering such services to cisgender individuals, is discrimination. California families seeking gender affirming care, and the doctors  and staff who provide it, are protected under state laws. “

Then, perhaps predicting a fight with the federal government, he wrote that, “The Office of the Attorney General will continue to defend California law.”

But the whole situation seems very much in flux. On February 13, a federal judge in Baltimore issued a temporary restraining order blocking the implementation of Trump’s executive order cutting off federal funding to institutions that provide so-called gender affirming care to minors. The next day, another federal judge, this time, in Seattle issued a similar injunction.

With the judges’ rulings blocking Trump’s executive order and Bonta’s office putting on the pressure, the Hospital apparently felt emboldened to resume the treatments.

In a statement suddenly issued February 21, the Hospital said it was resuming the treatments in light of the judge’s order and Bonta’s promise to “seek additional protections for CHLA and its patients.”

“CHLA had briefly paused beginning these therapies to allow time to assess the potential impact of recent federal policy changes,” the Hospital said in its statement.

So it sounds like Bonta promised the Hospital he would fight the Trump Administration in court if they try to nix funding for the Hospital because of the treatments.

Greg Burt of the conservative California Family Council told the California Globe that he thinks Bonta promising support has emboldened the Hospital to fight the Trump Administration if they try to cut off funding.

“I am assuming they think it is only a threat and we’ll see what happens,” he said in a telephone interview. “I am sure Bonta gave them reassurances that Trump can’t do that.

The Hospital and Bonta is calling [Trump’s] bluff. Let’s see if it is a bluff or not. I am hoping it is not.”

The Hospital’s decision to resume the treatments was a disappointment to Stanley Goldfarb, MD, whose organization, Do No Harm, fights wokeness in medicine.

He told the California Globe that, “This whole regiment makes me upset. It is a shame. These children should not be undergoing these treatments. It should be avoided until they are adults. As children they can’t give informed consent. They are relying on physicians who are duplicitous. It is awful and sad.”