Under mounting pressure from the Trump administration, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will shutter its longstanding healthcare program for trans children and young adults this summer, according to emails reviewed by The Times.
The Center for Transyouth Health and Development began telling its nearly 3,000 patient families of the closure on Thursday, saying there was “no viable alternative” that would allow the safety-net hospital to continue specialized care.
“There is no doubt that this is a painful and significant change to our organization and a challenge to CHLA’s mission, vision, and values,” hospital executives wrote to staff in a Thursday morning email.
The email said the decision to close the center on July 22 “follows a lengthy and thorough assessment of the increasingly severe impacts of federal administrative actions and proposed policies” that have emerged since the hospital briefly paused the initiation of care for some patients this winter.
The note sent shock waves through the tight-knit patient community, members of which had recently breathed a sigh of relief after CHLA reversed its brief ban on some care for new patients in February.
“We’re just disappointed and scared and enraged” said Maxine, the mother of a current patient, who declined to give her last name for fear of attacks on her son. “The challenge is how we break news to this kid who has had such a positive experience with everybody at Children’s.”
In the email, executives said that continuing to operate the center would jeopardize the hospital’s ability to care for “hundreds of thousands” of other children, noting that federal agencies including the Department of Justice, Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had warned of dire consequences for doctors and hospitals providing care opposed by the administration — including threat of prosecutions for doctors.
“These threats are no longer theoretical,” the note said. “Taken together, the Attorney General memo, HHS review, and the recent solicitation of tips from the FBI to report hospitals and providers of GAC strongly signal this Administration’s intent to take swift and decisive action, both criminal and civil, against any entity it views as being in violation of the executive order.”
The hospital’s Transyouth center is among the oldest and largest programs in the country, and among the only facilities that provides puberty blockers, hormones and surgical procedures for trans youth on public insurance.
But the hospital is also significantly more reliant on public funding than any other pediatric medical center in California — a situation that leaves it particularly exposed to the Trump administration. Roughly 40% of pediatric beds in Los Angeles are at Children’s.
“CHLA has a responsibility to navigate this complex and uncertain regulatory environment in a way that allows us to remain open as much as possible for as many as possible,” executives wrote. “In the end, this painful and difficult decision was driven by the need to safeguard CHLA’s ability to operate amid significant external pressures beyond our control.”
Protests erupted in February after the hospital briefly paused hormone therapy for some patients under 19, in response to President Trump’s executive order.
That move was reversed a few weeks later, amid pressure from patient families, LGBTQ+ civil rights groups and the state Department of Justice.
“Let me be clear: California law has not changed, and hospitals and clinics have a legal obligation to provide equal access to healthcare services,” Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta wrote on Feb. 5, days into the pause.
The California Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Thursday’s internal email from Children’s leadership notes the pressure from the federal government has risen at the same time that support from the state has ebbed.
“Over the past several months, California’s deepening budget crisis, President Trump’s executive orders, proposed federal legislation and rulemaking, and growing economic uncertainty have made the situation even more dire,” the email said.
Activists say the closure sets a dangerous precedent.
“CHLA needs to be a leader in this and stand up to the Trump administration, because other hospitals are taking note of what they’re doing,” said Maebe Pudlow, a trans nonbinary activist and Silverlake Neighborhood Council member who helped lead the protests when care was paused this winter.
“It feels very conveniently timed when everybody’s focus is on ICE raids happening in Los Angeles,” the activist went on. “I think it’s despicable.”
Maxine, the mom, was more measured.
“We’re slowly going underground, underground, underground,” the mother said. “You put one thing in place, and then you have to prepare for when that gets taken away. We’re just trying to stay a couple of steps ahead, sticking together with other parents, knowing who our allies are.”
