In a 5-2 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling from February and restored access to pediatric medical transition procedures at Children’s Hospital Colorado. In January, Children’s Hospital Colorado announced it would no longer provide cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers to dysphoric youth under 19, citing the threat to Medicaid funding. In response, four trans-identified minors and their families charged the hospital with violating the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. In an 18-page dissent joined by Justice Carlos Samour, Justice Brian Boatright argued that the lower court injunction should have been upheld. “From my perspective, CHC’s decision to terminate gender-affirming care for minors was plainly not ‘because of’ petitioners’ gender identity, sex or disability,” Boatright wrote. “It was a decision driven by the direct threat to the viability of the entire hospital.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, working with the Department of Justice, has secured a groundbreaking settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital after a years-long investigation found that the hospital falsified billing records for the purpose of circumventing Texas’ law prohibiting physicians form rendering “affirming care” procedures. Under the terms of the settlement, Texas Children’s is required to pay $10 million to compensate for its deceptive billing practices, and to permanently fire five physicians accused of violating Texas law. More notably, a term of the settlement requires Texas Children’s to establish the first of its kind clinic for “detransitioners” who have been harmed by sex-rejecting procedures, with all services being free of charge for the first five years. For more about the detransitioner clinic, see Lisa Selin Davis’ recent piece in Unherd.
Journalist Ben Ryan chronicles a 2022 conference panel by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health that exposes how members of the organization grappled with scientific criticism of the affirmative care model, often responding to challenges with “multiple false or non-evidence-based claims.” Ryan goes on to explain: “What amazed me about this conference panel was how seldom the speakers rebutted misinformation with substantive information of their own. Oftentimes they simply sweepingly declared something untrue and expected the audience to take it on faith that this was an accurate assertion. This was not an unreasonable presumption, given how WPATH conference-goers almost never challenged the ideas of presenters—at least in the well over 100 videos that I watched during my reporting for Compact.”
Writing for City Journal, I chronicle how the Texas Medical Association (TMA) doubled down on pediatric gender medicine at its recent delegate conference in April. My piece explains how TMA has become shrewder at deflecting membership criticism of activist priorities through actions taken by the board of trustees and expert councils and committees tasked with pre-screening policies. In 2026, key councils and committees recommended against adopting a resolution which would require TMA to conduct its own assessment of HHS’ report on pediatric gender dysphoria and to update TMA policy according to its evidentiary standards. Moreover, I also dive into regulatory issues over TMA’s Continuing Medical Education course on Transgender Healthcare.
Last week, a state district court judge temporarily blocked enforcement of Kansas’ SB63, which prohibits medical providers from rendering medical transition procedures for dysphoric minors. The judge found that SB63 likely violates the Kansas constitution, and while the determination is not final, it is designed to protect plaintiffs from “suffering irreparable injury during the pendency of this lawsuit while...claims are being litigated.”
NYU Langone has received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Texas requesting information about minors who received pediatric medical transition procedures between 2020 and 2026. Notably, Langone was the home of the prominent Transgender Youth Health program, which announced it would cease operations in February. “We understand that these developments may be concerning to our patients, providers and others,” the NYU Langone said in a statement. “Please know that NYU Langone takes the privacy of your protected health information very seriously, and we are evaluating our response to the subpoena.”
Gender Clinic News reports that Singapore’s Ministry of Health has released new treatment guidelines for pediatric gender dysphoria that advises doctors not to render medical interventions for patients under 18. The 55-page guidelines acknowledged the low-quality evidence for medical transition, which is primarily supported by observational cohort studies, growing evidence of harms, and the historical finding that most youth with childhood onset dysphoria outgrow it by the resolution of puberty. Despite the emphasis on caution and robust assessment, the guidelines still allow hormonal interventions for youth 18-21 under “exceptional circumstances.” For context, 21 is the age of majority in Singapore.
New Jersey is advancing an amended healthcare shield bill for abortion and “affirming care” that only indirectly alludes to “affirming care” practices.” According to the New Jersey Monitor, the “revision builds on a 2017 law that requires health insurance companies to cover services related to gender identity.” “Protecting access to abortion is broadly popular in the state, and within the Democratic Party. Protecting access to gender-affirming care is believed to be a wedge issue, so it makes sense that they might want to get some plausible deniability,” Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics, told the New Jersey Monitor.
Joseph Figliolia
Policy Analyst
News
