Children’s Healthcare suspends gender-affirming care for transgender kids

“Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is fully compliant with all statutory provisions enacted in 2023 by Georgia Senate Bill 140 and is taking the necessary steps to comply with applicable federal laws, and we are closely monitoring recent federal government activity, including recent executive orders, to maintain full compliance,” the spokeswoman said in the statement. “Our priority is serving all our patients in a compassionate and caring manner.”

Messages from providers told parents they will not be able to prescribe any new medications for their children. Three parents shared the messages they received with the AJC. Each said they knew of other parents who received similar messages.

One parent of a transgender child received a message last week through MyChart, the online patient portal used by many medical institutions, two days before her child was scheduled to see her provider. The mother, who lives in Roswell, asked to remain anonymous, citing the safety of her 14-year-old daughter and wanting to protect her child’s doctor.

“Unfortunately, due to threats to federal funding, Children’s leadership has determined that we cannot start any new patients on medication for gender-affirming care and will need to transition all of our current patients receiving gender-affirming care to other organizations,” the doctor wrote. “I know this is very disappointing and I am so sorry for this change. We hope it will be temporary.”

In his first days back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening to withhold federal research and education grants from medical schools and hospitals that use puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgery to treat transgender children.

However, a federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the executive order last month as the courts consider a legal challenge of the policy.

The Roswell mother said she wasn’t surprised by the message from Children’s Healthcare, but she had been hopeful the hospital wouldn’t change its policy. The visit would have led to her daughter’s first treatment. She told her family she was transgender in December, and after going through months of counseling, was preparing to begin taking puberty blockers.

In 2023, the Georgia Legislature passed a law banning minors from receiving hormone therapies as treatment for gender dysphoria, the medical diagnosis given to transgender people. It included two exceptions: to allow minors to begin use of puberty blockers and to allow those already receiving hormone therapy before the law’s July 1, 2023, effective date to continue treatment.

Lawmakers unsuccessfully attempted to pass legislation that would have removed those exceptions this year. With no new action from the Georgia Legislature, the Roswell mother who spoke to the AJC said she did not know why Children’s discontinued her child’s therapy.

“Georgia didn’t say it was illegal,” she said.

Children’s Health Care is the state’s premiere pediatric system, which includes three hospitals, an urgent care center and a host of other medical services. The system operates as a non-profit with net assets of nearly $3 billion.

Georgia Republicans have spent the past several years pushing legislation that regulates transgender people. This year, the Legislature passed a bill that requires transgender student-athletes to play team sports according to their gender assigned at birth. Lawmakers also approved a bill that bans all gender-affirming care for transgender people in prison.

Both bills are on Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk awaiting his signature.