UVA, VCU end care for trans minors following Trump order, state guidance

“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