Michigan health system ends transgender treatments for minors

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(The Center Square) – Michigan health care system Corewell Health will no longer provide hormonal therapies and puberty blocker medications for minors.

This came in response to the Trump administration opening criminal and civil investigations into those providing what are commonly called transgender treatments for minors throughout the country.

Transgender is a broad term, most often used to indicate a person doesn't identify as the sex, or even any sex, as assigned at birth – male or female based on reproductive systems.

Corewell, operator of 21 hospitals and over 300 outpatient facilities throughout Michigan, said that it made the decision in response to a “serious risk of legal and regulatory action.”

“Like many health care systems across the country, we made this decision to protect both our health care providers and our patients,” Corewell Health told the Detroit Free Press last week. “We will continue to compassionately address the health needs of our patients who are in transition or wish to transition, including providing mental health support.”

Corewell Health made a similar decision in February right after second-term Republican President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.” At that time, it reversed its decision just days later.

Now though, Corewell Health joins the University of Michigan’s hospital system, Michigan Medicine, in officially no longer providing transgender medical treatment to minors.

Michigan Medicine made that decision just weeks ago. That came after it was one of more than 20 doctors and clinics that were subpoenaed by the Department of Justice in early July for their part in “performing transgender medical procedures on children,” according to the department.

“Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

Michigan Medicine also blamed “unprecedented legal and regulatory threats” for its decision.

Both Michigan Medicine and Corewell Health still provide transgender medical care to adults. In Michigan Medicine's case, that means those 19 and up.

“Our experienced team is dedicated to addressing the specific health needs of our LGBTQIA+ community, including hormone therapy, adult surgeries, mental health support, and more,” Corewell says on its website.

LGBTQIA+ is an acronym for 

lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual with inclusivity for all other identities not covered by the preceding letters.

Another website details its “gender-affirming surgery options for adults.”

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel pushed back against Corewell Health’s decision to end transgender treatments for minors, calling it “deeply disappointing.”

“They have chosen to capitulate to the federal administration’s discriminatory campaign against the trans community, despite Corewell not being a target of any federal action in this realm,” Nessel said.

The attorney general’s office previously released an open letter to all Michigan health care providers outlining that to refuse these health care services might be discrimination under Michigan law.

In early August, Nessel helped file a multi-state lawsuit seeking to protect transgender health care for minors by declaring Trump’s executive order illegal.

In her statement about Corewell Health, Nessel joined organizations like Equality Michigan in emphasizing that transgender medical treatment for minors is still legal in Michigan.

“Michigan law has not changed; gender affirming care remains legal and is approved healthcare by leading healthcare associations,” she said of Corewell Health’s decision. “We urge health care institutions in Michigan to join our office and other institutions in fighting back against the federal government’s incursion into personal and sensitive health care decisions. These sensitive health care matters should not be determined by the government, but by parents in concert with their children and their family’s medical providers.”