Gender affirming care in jeopardy for new patients at Children's Hospital
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Children's Wisconsin Hospital is reportedly halting accepting new patients to its Gender Health Clinic. This comes a week after President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to halt federal funding for gender affirming care for youth.
On Friday three states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block the executive order. No word yet on if Wisconsin will join Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota in the lawsuit but this week Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced he's joining a coalition of 15 attorneys general to reaffirm their commitment to protecting access to gender-affirming care.
Sarah Moskonas says her daughter is a patient at Children's Wisconsin Hospital and was approved to begin treatment for hormone therapy this week.
"I have a trans daughter who is 13, almost 14 years-old. She’s been working with Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin since 2020 and had been scheduled to begin her next phase in her treatment, which would be hormone therapy. Estrogen," Moskonas said.
A few days before the appointment, the family received a discouraging call. "On Friday, Jan. 31, I received a call from Children's Hospital of Wisconsin telling me that they were not able to provide care to my daughter anymore and I asked, 'Is this because of the executive order?' and was told yes," said Moskonas.
Just three days before the family got the phone call from the hospital, President Donald Trump announced an executive order aimed at cutting federal support for gender-affirming care for anyone under age 19.
"It's awful. I think the uncertainty is maybe the worst part of it and not being sure what that's going to look like for my kid," Moskonas said.
Moskonas said Children's Wisconsin followed up with an update and now says they will be able to proceed with care, however they aren't accepting any new patients to its Gender Health Clinic.
CBS 58 reached out to Children's Wisconsin for a statement or comment and did not receive a response.