PublicSource: Growing list of UPMC staff urge reconsideration of youth gender care cuts

Photo above of UPMC Children’s Hospital by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource.

UPMC is directing patients under 19 who receive gender-affirming care to squeeze in final appointments before it cuts major services on June 30 to comply with recent federal directives. The health system confirmed the decision, which has drawn concern from families, prompted an open letter from providers and sparked plans for a rally this weekend.

A family who received a UPMC letter, and requested anonymity due to privacy concerns, said their child was called in for an appointment and given a final prescription, a plan to taper off medication and told not to return for further lab work.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson wrote that UPMC continues to monitor memos, directives and guidance from the federal government.

“These actions have made it abundantly clear that our clinicians can no longer provide certain types of gender-affirming care without risk of criminal prosecution,” the statement said. “This includes specific restrictions on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for individuals under the age of 19. However, we will continue to provide essential behavioral health support and other necessary care within the bounds of the law. We empathize deeply with the patients and families affected by these ongoing changes.”

The shift comes in the wake of an executive order from the Trump administration, reinforced by a recent memorandum from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The memo outlines five federal guidelines, including one warning that “in the United States, it is a felony to perform, attempt to perform, or conspire to perform female genital mutilation on any person under the age of 18.”

Rich Ting, a senior staff attorney at ACLU of Pennsylvania, said compliance with Trump’s executive order and the DOJ memo is largely motivated by “fear of losing funding,” not out of adherence to the law.

“Executive orders are not law,” Ting said. “The administration cannot just cut funding. There is a specific process that must be followed.”

The hospital began denying gender-affirming care to new and some existing patients under 19 in April.

According to providers familiar with UPMC’s evolving policies, internal directives have instructed providers to stop issuing new prescriptions after June 30, with current patients to be weaned off treatments — including puberty blockers and hormone therapy — in as little as three months.

With these additional restrictions, UPMC has directed its providers to stop referring their patients to other hospitals or clinics who still provide these services.

To do so would be considered “aiding and abetting,” said Jess Cox, a UPMC behavioral health therapist and co-author of an open letter addressed to hospital leadership and the Board of Directors of UPMC Children’s Hospital urging them to walk back the planned changes. More than 130 providers had signed the letter as of Monday morning.

“As we stand with our patients, we are enraged. We will not violate our ethics or our oaths to do no harm,” the letter states. “We will not stand by or be complicit in this atrocious attempt to eliminate transgender people from society.”

Katherine Anderson, a behavioral health therapist at UPMC and the letter’s other co-author, said it was written in an attempt to “stop UPMC from carrying out this deadly policy.”

Anderson and Cox are working to gather signatures from other UPMC providers ahead of Sunday’s rally, when they plan to deliver the letter. They are calling on the health system to reject what they view as preemptive and dangerous compliance with federal guidance.

TransYOUniting, a Pittsburgh-based transgender advocacy group, is leading the planned rally outside UPMC headquarters at 3 p.m. on June 29 to protest the rollback of care and the recent Supreme Court decision upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

“UPMC’s decision to quietly strip care from trans youth is violent. It is strategic. And it is unacceptable,” said Dena Stanley, executive director of TransYOUniting. “This rally is not just about protest, it is the beginning of a long fight to restore what is being taken from our youth. We are calling on leaders at every level to stand with us. If you care, show up.”

Stanley said the organization will work with partners to coordinate outreach to UPMC leadership, local and state lawmakers, the governor’s office and the public. She described the campaign as a long-term effort to reinstate access and defend the rights of transgender youth in Pennsylvania.

This story by Amber Frantz was originally published by PublicSource, a news partner of Kidsburgh.org. PublicSource is a nonprofit media organization delivering local journalism at publicsource.org. You can sign up for their newsletters at publicsource.org/newsletters.