
Students at McLean High School in McLean, Va., walk out of classes Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. Student activists held school walkouts across Virginia on Tuesday to protest Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's proposed changes to the state's guidance on district policies for transgender students that would roll back some accommodations. (AP Photo/Matthew Barakat)
“By trying to scare providers into halting the critical services they’ve provided for decades, Trump’s executive order is simply another misguided, extreme attempt to will trans people out of existence,” ACLU-VA Senior Transgender Rights Attorney Wyatt Rolla said.
Two of Virginia’s major health systems quietly stopped providing gender-affirming care to minors in response to directives from the Trump administration and Virginia’s Republican Attorney General.
University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University medical facilities have stopped offering gender-affirming care to minors under the age of 19 in response to a recent Trump Administration executive order and direction from the office of Virginia’s Attorney General Jason Miyares.
While conservatives demonize this kind of health care as a form of child abuse, gender-affirming care consists of a range of things that includes counseling and medications. Surgeries are rarely provided to people under the age of 18, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
There is a large body of research linking good mental health for transgender youth with access to gender-affirming care. Access to gender-affirming care lowers the risk of depression and suicide, according to a 2015 study cited by the American Psychological Association (APA).
“The distress experienced by youth who are provided treatments, but then decide to discontinue them and grow up to be cisgender, is significantly less than that which is experienced by transgender youth when such treatments are delayed,” according to the APA.
The news was first reported by WVTF reporter Brad Kutner.
BREAKING: I just spoke with the mother of a #trans child who said @VCUHealth denied her child services this AM.
Still trying to confirm details, but she said she was told, “With all that’s going on, VCU has decided to no longer offer this treatment” #VALeg pic.twitter.com/0i0vSrxmTG
— BK (@BradKutner) January 30, 2025
A VCU spokesperson said in an email statement to The Dogwood that VCU Health and the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, “have suspended gender-affirming medication and gender-affirming surgical procedures for those under 19 years old in response to a White House executive order and clear guidance from the state provided to VCU.”
A UVA spokesperson shared a similar statement to The Dogwood, saying, “in response to the recent federal executive order and related Commonwealth of Virginia, Office of the Attorney General guidance, UVA Health has suspended all gender-affirming care for patients under 19 years of age.”
A spokesperson for Attorney General Miyares told The Dogwood in an email that Miyares had, “issued written guidance to his state clients and stands by that guidance.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia told The Dogwood that gender-affirming care for people under the age of 19 is still legal in Virginia despite the Trump Administration’s executive order.
“By trying to scare providers into halting the critical services they’ve provided for decades, Trump’s executive order is simply another misguided, extreme attempt to will trans people out of existence,” ACLU-VA Senior Transgender Rights Attorney Wyatt Rolla said. “The many Virginia providers that remain committed to providing them vital care can’t be cowed into preemptively complying with the administration’s hateful agenda.”
The Trump Administration’s executive order aims to end support for any gender-affirming care for minors, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery. It forbids federal funding from covering gender-affirming care for minors and directs federal agencies to rescind guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, or WPATH.
The guidance sent from Miyares to VCU and UVA detailed the Trump administration order and directed those institutions to comply.
#NOW Around 100 people outside UVA Hospital to protest the health systems suspension of gender-affirming care for minors 19 and under. @29NewsWVIR pic.twitter.com/xwxzTycatk
— Maggie Glass (@maggieglass08) January 31, 2025
Support Our Cause
Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for Virginians and our future.
Since day one, our goal here at Dogwood has always been to empower people across the commonwealth with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of Virginia families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.


Norovirus outbreak: What you need to know to stay safe
UVA professor Dr. William Petri warns about norovirus, a severe and highly contagious stomach bug affecting millions yearly. Here's what you should...

US House Republicans want to cut Medicaid. Why that’s bad news for Virginia.
By one estimate, over 600,000 people in Virginia are at risk of automatically losing their health insurance through Medicaid if federal funding...

Youngkin again looks to cut assistance for abortions for severe fetal diagnoses
One reproductive rights group called Youngkin’s proposal “unjust” and “shameful.” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is trying to again block state...

Virginia advocates, lawmakers look to address high Black maternal mortality rate
“We are not heard, and we’re not believed.” The fate of Jennifer Carroll Foy’s newborn babies’ lives came down to simple math for her doctor. ...

What to watch on reproductive rights in Virginia’s 2025 legislative session
“More people are paying attention this year now that we’re going to be in Trump 2.0 during this legislative session.” For the upcoming General...

‘Shocking and disturbing’: New report on Virginia Department of Health highlights years of financial mismanagement
The report by a state watchdog included 31 recommendations to help the health agency get its finances in order and address staffing challenges....