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New York AG tells hospitals to continue sex-change surgeries, drugs for kids after Trump order

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference at the office of the Attorney General on July 13, 2022 in New York City. NY AG James announced today that her office has reached a settlement of $500,000 for more than a dozen current and former employees of the Sweet and Vicious, a bar in Manhattan, after a 16-month investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination and wage theft at the establishment.
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference at the office of the Attorney General on July 13, 2022 in New York City. NY AG James announced today that her office has reached a settlement of $500,000 for more than a dozen current and former employees of the Sweet and Vicious, a bar in Manhattan, after a 16-month investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination and wage theft at the establishment. | Getty Images/Michael M. Santiago

New York Attorney General Letitia James has demanded that hospitals in the Empire State continue to provide puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones and body-mutilating cosmetic surgeries for minors struggling with gender dysphoria. 

In a letter sent to hospitals on Monday, James warned healthcare facilities that refusing to provide such procedures or drugs for trans-identified youth would violate state anti-discrimination law.

"Regardless of the availability of federal funding, we write to further remind you of your obligations to comply with New York State laws," she wrote, as quoted by The Associated Press.

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Last week, James' office released a statement affirming its support for "transgender, nonbinary, gender nonconforming, and intersex New Yorkers."

"In New York, you have the right to receive treatment without discrimination regardless of your sex, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, diagnosis of gender dysphoria, or intersex status," the AG's office said.

"Private health insurance plans bought in New York state and New York Medicaid must cover medically necessary gender-affirming care. They are subject to state law. You are also entitled to receive sex specific procedures regardless of your sex assigned at birth or your gender identity."

Last week, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for the removal of federal funding from hospitals and medical schools that advance experimental surgeries and hormone regimens for gender dysphoric children. 

The word "children" was defined as individuals younger than 19. The executive order also instructed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to publish a work to advance "best practices" for helping children experiencing gender dysphoria.

In response to the executive order, hospitals in places including Colorado, Virginia and Washington, D.C., have agreed to halt their pharmaceutical or surgical services for trans-identified minors.

Over the past few years, about two dozen states passed laws or policies that prohibit the prescribing of puberty blockers to children or cosmetic sex-change surgeries for minors for the purpose of gender transition.

In February 2022, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians, the American Osteopathic Association and the American Psychiatric Association issued a joint statement denouncing efforts to criminalize "gender-affirming care" for minors.

However, The New York Times reported in November 2022 that an increasing number of medical professionals and formerly trans-identified individuals, also called detransitioners, are concerned about the potential long-term harmful effects of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. 

Last December, the U.K.'s Department of Health and Social Care announced the government's ban on the use of puberty-blocking drugs on children who struggle with gender dysphoria for the foreseeable future, save for clinical trials.

The announcement followed a review led by Dr. Hillary Cass, a retired former president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health. The review recommended "extreme caution" for prescribing irreversible cross-sex hormones to minors due to the "poor" quality of studies that purport to show such drugs improve the well-being of children. 

"The Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) has provided independent expert advice that there is currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children," stated DHSC.

"Puberty blockers for the treatment of gender incongruence and/or gender dysphoria in under 18s were banned temporarily in May 2024 after the Cass Review found there was insufficient evidence to show they were safe. Legislation will be updated today to make the order indefinite and will be reviewed in 2027."

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