Under pressure from the federal government, Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan's medical center, will no longer offer gender-affirming care ― hormone therapy or puberty blockers — for patients under the age of 19, a spokeswoman for the medical system said Aug. 25.
"The University of Michigan, including Michigan Medicine, is one of multiple institutions across the country that has received a federal subpoena as part of a criminal and civil investigation into gender-affirming care for minors," according to a statement from Michigan Medicine. "In light of that investigation, and given escalating external threats and risks, we will no longer provide gender affirming hormonal therapies and puberty blocker medications for minors."
Advocacy organizations decried the move. "It appears to us that the sole reason for halting care, was the mounting pressure and threats from the Trump administration, and the weaponization of all aspects of the federal government to harm these families and their providers," Erin Knott, executive director of the LGBTQ+ rights organization Equality Michigan, told the Free Press.
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"Trans youth and their families are already navigating a climate of fear and uncertainty," she said in an earlier statement. "This decision only deepens that trauma. We are heartbroken — for the young people being told their care no longer matters, for the parents now scrambling to find safe alternatives, and for the community that must once again rise to fill the void left by institutions that should know better."
Knott said Equality Michigan would work "to ensure every trans young person in our state has access to the care, dignity and respect they deserve."
Roz Gold, executive director and founder of Stand With Trans, a metro Detroit-based group that aims to support trans youth said her organization is compiling a list of private practice physicians who will treat minor patients. For details on that list: [email protected].
"The most important thing to keep in mind is that gender-affirming care ... and eveyrthing that goes along with it is not illegal in the state of Michigan," Gold said. "It is absolutely legal to receive care and to get treated with hormones. We want people to know that. ... The rights in Michigan are the same as they've been. This has to do with federally-funded institutions who are being threatened by our government."
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Medicine halts gender-affirming care for trans youth
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