Colorado Supreme Court says Children's Hospital must resume gender-affirming care for minors

The Colorado Supreme Court ordered Children’s Hospital Colorado to restart gender-affirming care for minor patients. The court found that ending care abruptly earlier in the year wrongly harmed transgender youth. Without puberty blockers and hormone therapy, children would go through puberty and develop characteristics of a sex they do not identify with. The court cited reports of depression and suicidal ideation among affected patients. The hospital had stopped all gender-affirming care for minors in December after funding threats tied to federal guidance. The court said cutting off treatments, including for long-term patients needing continuity, functioned as discrimination based on gender identity under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.

"“Petitioners and other transgender youth who sought such care from CHC were suddenly abandoned during a precarious time. Without access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy, these children will go through puberty and develop characteristics of a sex with which they do not identify,” reads a majority ruling penned by Justice William Hood. “Petitioners have experienced depression, and in at least two instances, suicidal ideation, because they can no longer access medical gender-affirming care.”"

"In December, the hospital all gender-affirming care for minors. That decision came as the Trump administration guidelines limiting access to any such care and threatening federal funding for those institutions defying that direction. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. funding could be jeopardized even if physicians prescribe puberty blockers or hormone therapy to minors, not just surgeries, which Children's Hospital Colorado has never offered for those under age 18."

"But Colorado justices say cutting off treatments, including to long-term patients who need continuity of care, effectively served as discrimination against individuals based on their gender identity. That violates the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, which recognized sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes."

Read at Advocate.com