VCU Health joins UVA Health in ending gender-affirming care for trans teens

VCU Health is joining UVA Health in acceding to the Trump administration’s push to end gender-affirming care for trans teens, in VCU’s case, leaving 186 trans teens in the midst of gender transition in the lurch.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch broke this news on Tuesday, based on an interview with VCU Health CEO Marlon Levy, who told the paper that discontinuing gender-transition care for teens “seemed like the right thing to do.”

“We’ll continue to take care of them and to try to accelerate this transition, but after a period of time, they’ll simply come [to] a point where we will no longer be able to write those prescriptions,” Levy said. “And if those patients want to continue with us, for example, with our mental health teams or our therapy teams, certainly, of course, we’ll continue to take care of them, but we won’t be providing the medications.”

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ICYMI

• UVA Board of Visitors splits the difference on teen trans healthcare EO
• UVA Health resumes gender-affirming care after court ruling; VCU services still paused
• UVA, VCU bullied by Miyares into ending gender-affirming care for trans teens

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The moves by VCU and UVA are a response to an executive order Sharpied by Donald Trump on Jan. 28.

That order, issued under the Orwellian name “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” directs that federally-run insurance programs exclude coverage for gender-affirming care for trans minors, and calls on the Department of Justice to pursue litigation and for Congress to pass legislation to outlaw the care.

Our MAGA attorney general, Jason Miyares, who is running for re-election, and is currently way, way behind in the polls, sent letters dated Jan. 30 to UVA Health and VCU Health in response to the Trump EO directing them to stop offering medical care for minors in the midst of gender transition.

VCU initially halted surgical procedures and medical care for trans teens, before deciding in February to resume providing medical care.

The folks at UVA are following the directive of the UVA Board of Visitors to punt the provision of care to private providers “as soon as practicable,” and because of how the BOV resolution addressed the matter of new patients, who “should be referred to alternate private healthcare providers until further notice, provided that nothing herein shall prevent the University’s medical center providing other screening, counseling or other healthcare or mental health services.”