In the first two months of 2026, about a half-dozen clinics announced they would pause or discontinue transgender services to minors.
Mounting political, financial, and legal pressures are poised to put more youth gender clinics out of business—or could force them to scale back services.
During the first two months of 2026, about a half-dozen U.S. gender clinics announced they would pause or discontinue some treatment programs for minors, according to hospital announcements and news reports reviewed by The Epoch Times.
The curtailment trend, which began in 2021 when states began passing laws to ban medical interventions on minors, picked up steam last year when President Donald Trump issued a wide-ranging executive order to guard against what he calls “surgical and chemical mutilation” of children—procedures that advocates refer to as “gender-affirming care.”
A wave of clinic closures and increased restrictions followed, buoyed by a mid-2025 Supreme Court ruling that upheld Tennessee’s statewide ban on medical transitions for minors. And this year, in a landmark verdict, a New York jury awarded a woman $2 million in a gender-transition medical malpractice case; many similar cases are pending.
Within days of the Jan. 30 decision, two major medical organizations—the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Medical Association—recommended delaying transition procedures until adulthood.
Several clinics that ended some gender treatments last month emphasized that mental health services would remain unaffected.
University of Utah Health confirmed that it will “discontinue hormonal transgender treatment for all patients under the age of 18, effective April 15, 2026,” an emailed statement said.
NYU Langone Health released a statement last month in which it cited a hospital leadership change and “the current regulatory environment” as reasons for stopping its Transgender Youth Health Program.
New York state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez said she considers those treatments “essential healthcare” for minors, according to a statement released Feb. 18, following NYU Langone’s closure decision.
Gonzalez headed a group of more than 70 New York state lawmakers who signed a letter two days later urging the hospital to reverse its decision.
The New York Attorney General’s office on Feb. 25 ordered NYU Langone to resume gender services within 14 days.
In the neighboring state of Massachusetts, Baystate Health announced it would no longer prescribe hormones and puberty blockers to minors, but said it would transfer patients’ care to other providers.
Baystate emphasized, “Our Gender Health program is not closed. We continue to provide supportive care, mental health services and education regarding medical and non-medical treatment options.”
And in the Midwest, Children’s Minnesota announced in early February that the hospital would “temporarily pause” prescriptions of “puberty-suppressing medications,” along with hormones for patients under age 18 in its Gender Health program. The change, posted on the hospital’s website, took effect Feb. 27.
It happened because of “an increase in federal actions” against hospitals providing gender-transitioning procedures, Children’s Minnesota said.
Further, the hospital said it “remains committed to advocating for the patients and families and stands firmly behind the fact that gender affirming care is evidence-based and lifesaving for transgender and gender diverse youth.”
Children’s Hospital Colorado and Denver Health both suspended the treatments, the Colorado Sun reported Jan. 2.
The Epoch Times was unable to independently verify reports that additional clinics had also restricted or ended youth gender transition programs earlier this year.
By Janice Hisle
