By Jenna Portnoy · The Washington Post (c) 2025
Children’s National Hospital this week suspended all new prescriptions, refills and medication administration for trans minors in an effort to comply with an executive order issued by the Trump administration, hospital officials said.
The Northwest Washington hospital and others around the country, including the Virginia Commonwealth University health system in Richmond, paused prescriptions of puberty blockers and hormone therapy as providers assess the Tuesday order that seeks to end federal support for gender transition care for people younger than 19.
The mother of a former patient at the Children’s National clinic said she learned of the change on Tuesday when the mother of a child receiving treatment told her the child’s medication appointment was canceled.
Gender transition care, including medications, has been called lifesaving by patients and providers and is endorsed by most major medical associations. Some medications give patients time to assess their gender before starting more intense interventions, such as hormones.
“We understand the change is upsetting, and recognize how difficult this is,” Children’s National officials said in a message to patients and families Thursday. “We hope we can work together to navigate this evolving situation. We know you have specific questions about your care, and we are working to understand the full impact of the order.”
Access to mental health counseling, social support and other resources will continue uninterrupted, the message says. Providers are still seeing patients in the clinic to discuss care and the hospital does not plan to cancel appointments, it continues.
“While we don’t have all the answers right now, we are taking the time to make thoughtful, measured decisions in the best interest of our patients, staff and organization,” the message says. “We thank you for your trust and patience while we navigate these changes and will update you as soon as possible.”
A hospital spokeswoman confirmed the message and shared a statement reiterating hospital officials’ commitment to working with patients and providers to ensure access to information and support.
VCU Health and the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU also suspended gender-affirming medication and surgical procedures for those under 19 years old, according to a statement. The decision was made “in response to clear guidance from the state provided to VCU,” it adds.
The moves come as the Trump administration makes sweeping changes to roll back care and protections for transgender people. Hours after taking office, Trump signed an order to officially recognize only male and female sexes and directed agencies to issue government documents showing people’s sex at conception, among other changes. He also directed revisions to the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops, which could lead to a future ban on their military service and has already been challenged in court.
In addition to attempting to cut Medicare and Medicaid funding to health providers that offer gender transition care to minors, the health care order directs federal officials to ensure that medical schools and hospitals that receive federal grant money stop providing gender transition care to minors.
In the past five years, more than half of states have banned doctors from offering transition health care to minors, including medication. Most transgender children do not take medication to assist with their transition.
At Children’s National, the Gender Development Program does not provide gender-affirming surgery for anyone under age 18 and does not provide hormone therapy to children before puberty begins, according to the clinic’s website. Parental consent is required to provide gender-affirming medical care to a minor in the District.
The hospital’s Youth Pride Clinic provides primary and specialty care services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning/queer (LGBTQ) patients in the Greater Washington region.
There is no national data on the number of trans children who take medications, but data from a handful of hospitals shows many patients with gender dysphoria do not take them. About one-third of 3,300 patients receiving treatment for gender transition care at Ohio hospitals over 10 years were prescribed hormones and 65 percent never received any medication, according to the president of the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association.
The abrupt suspension of care due to the order and other measures to unwind protections left many parents and young people reeling.
A D.C.-area parent of a child who has received gender-affirming care at Children’s National for years said clinic providers assured parents in a virtual call weeks after the election that they have been working for years with hospitals around the country and would do their best to protect patients. The mother requested anonymity to protect her son’s identity amid attacks on trans people.
She praised the “extraordinary care” her son has received and said treatment “literally saved my kid’s life” after he was suicidal.
When her son came out as trans, she said, it never occurred to her and her husband that the government would start making their lives harder.
“In [the] last nine days, the government issued three disgusting pieces of paper on White House stationery saying the most disgusting things about trans people,” she said. If her son were younger, she said, “I don’t know that I would have let him out of my sight.”
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Casey Parks contributed to this report.