Rady Children’s in San Diego drops gender-affirming procedures, prescriptions

Amid the threat to lose all federal reimbursement for the services that it provides to its young patients, Rady Children’s Hospital confirmed Tuesday that it has stopped offering gender-affirming “medical interventions, procedures and prescriptions,” though it will “continue providing supportive care, including counseling, mental health resources and care coordination.”

In a statement, the region’s only medical center dedicated to serving children and adolescents said it was “recently referred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General for investigation.”

The move is the latest in a wave of pull-backs from children’s hospitals nationwide that started with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Jan. 28, 2025, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” that sought to restrict various types of gender-affirming care. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services followed on Dec. 19, 2025, with two proposed new rules that would prohibit Medicare and Medicaid certified hospitals “from performing sex-rejecting procedures on children,” and would also prohibit state Medicaid programs — includin...