Rady Children’s Health discontinued the procedures earlier this year in response to threats to federal funding.
After a San Diego children’s hospital shuttered its “gender-affirming care” project to preserve its federal Medicare and Medicaid funding, a California judge ruled the decision violates state law.
Per the ruling, Rady Children’s Health must resume its offering of puberty blockers and hormone treatments. The hospital previously announced at the end of January that by February 9, it would halt these procedures for patients under 19 years old.
The California Attorney General’s office sued Rady following the hospital’s decision, citing legal concerns over the hospital’s merger with other local health care providers.
“Right at this moment, I see kids at risk suffering relative degrees of harm,” San Diego Superior Court Judge Matthew Braner said. “Whereas at this moment, I see the existential threat to Rady of losing funding that’s going to affect 800,000 patients is just that, a threat. It’s a threat that might become a reality, but it is not yet at that stage.”
Braner said he does not believe the hospital is immediately at risk of losing its Medicare and Medicaid funding.
Rady Children’s Health is one of the many hospitals that has recently decided to stop its “gender-affirming care” programs for its minor patients.
Back in December, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced new guidance from the agency; hospitals that continue to provide these procedures will be at risk of losing federal Medicare and Medicaid funding.
The Trump administration has seen success in discouraging the medicalization of gender dysphoric children.
Baystate Health, the largest western Massachusetts health system, and NYU Langone Health, a large Manhattan-based hospital, both recently halted their gender transition programs for minor patients, citing the threat to federal funding.
Rady’s attorneys argued that “Anything perceived as a violation” by HHS puts the hospital in serious risk of losing its funding.
“We will not allow Rady to violate its obligations to its patients and the State,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “We will fight to uphold the law and ensure Californians can access gender-affirming care without facing unfair roadblocks.”
Following the judge’s order, Rady must reinstate its gender program and continue to provide non-surgical interventions to minor patients.
Rady Children’s Health did not immediately respond to National Review‘s request for comment.