VCU Health resumes gender-affirming care for existing patients, following U.Va. decision

VCU Health and the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU announced Tuesday that the system will resume gender-affirming medical treatments for people under 19 if they are existing patients, but the system will not offer gender-affirming surgeries or medically treat new young patients.

VCU Health and UVA Health suspended all gender-affirming medical care for patients under 19 on Jan. 30, following President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting health care providers from prescribing puberty blockers, hormone medications and certain surgeries to transgender minors and the state attorney general’s issuing a letter to VCU Health and UVA Health directing both systems to halt all gender-affirming medical care to such patients immediately.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, both Republicans, have voiced support for the executive order’s limitations on medical care, and Miyares issued a directive to UVA Health and VCU Health enforcing Trump’s order last month, despite the Virginia Human Rights Act in the state code explicitly protecting people from discrimination related to their gender identity.

A few days after Trump’s order took effect, a group of transgender youth, young adults and family members joined the ACLU, GLMA and PFLAG in a federal lawsuit challenging Trump’s executive order filed in a federal court in Maryland.

One 17-year-old plaintiff, Willow, and her mother live in Richmond; according to the lawsuit, Willow had a Jan. 29 appointment canceled at VCU Health, where she sought gender-affirming medical treatment with her mother’s permission.

UVA Health resumed care for transgender patients under 19 after a federal judge placed a two-week restraining order on Trump’s order on Feb. 13, and on Feb. 21, the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors passed a resolution that its health system will provide gender-affirming treatment only to current patients under 19, and new patients will be referred to private health care providers until further notice. VCU Health’s Feb. 25 announcement is similar in nature to UVA Health’s policy.

Before Feb. 25, VCU Health had not resumed gender-affirming care after receiving “verbal guidance from the governor’s office that the Virginia attorney general’s prior directive that prohibits gender-affirming services outlined in the White House’s executive order still stands,” according to an earlier statement.

VCU Health said Feb. 25 it will provide education, counseling and mental health services for young people seeking gender-affirming care, but will not provide medication or surgery to new patients, and the system will “as soon as possible” try to transfer the care of existing patients requiring gender-affirming medication or surgeries to non-VCU Health providers.

“We will continue to keep you informed regarding this evolving situation,” the hospital said in a statement posted online. “We are grateful for your support as we navigate these times and continue to advocate with a focus on the health of our patients and providers.”