New York Attorney General Letitia James warned hospitals Monday that denying care to transgender minors, following President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to ban funding, would violate state law. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI |
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Feb. 3 (UPI) -- New York Attorney General Letitia James warned hospitals Monday that denying care to transgender minors, following President Donald Trump's recent executive order to ban funding, would violate state law.
In a letter, James warned that denying care to transgender youth would violate New York laws that protect against discrimination based on sex and gender identity.
"Regardless of the availability of federal funding, we write to further remind you of your obligations to comply with New York State laws," James wrote.
"Electing to refuse services to a class of individuals based on their protected status, such as withholding the availability of services from transgender individuals based on their gender identity or their diagnosis of gender dysphoria, while offering such services to cisgender individuals, is discrimination under New York law," James added.
Last week, Trump signed the executive order, "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutiliation," to block federal funding to hospitals and medical institutions that offer transgender care, puberty blockers or transition surgery for minors under the age of 19.
"It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures," Trump wrote in the executive order.
According to a New York Times report, NYU Langone Health started canceling appointments last week for transgender children, citing two families whose children receive care. NYU Langone Health has not commented.
Four hospitals in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Colorado have also suspended gender-affirming care for minors as they evaluate Trump's order, The Hill reported.
Fewer than one in 1,000 teenagers in the United States received hormones or puberty blockers between 2018 and 2022, according to a study published last month in JAMA Pediatrics. The study did not include surgeries for transgender minors.
"The order's characterization of medical care for transgender minors bears no resemblance to reality," Shannon Minter, legal director of the Lesbian Center for Transgender Rights, said last week after the order was signed. "This is an attempt to impose an extreme ideological agenda through hyperbole and fear, not a responsible attempt to address the issue."
Trump's executive order followed 26 states enacting their own bans and restrictions on transgender care for minors. A lawsuit in North Dakota has already gone to trial.