Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus suspended all gender affirming care for patients effective Friday. The hospital made the decision, despite state and federal laws not prohibiting gender affirming care for individuals over the age of 18.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital senior director of media relations Michelle Fong shared the announcement in a statement via email.
“Although we are currently in compliance with state and federal regulations,” Fong wrote in an email. “In order to proactively plan and support our providers and patients in a rapidly changing regulatory environment, Nationwide Children's providers will discontinue prescribing gender-affirming medications to patients effective Sept. 26.”
The decision comes after HB 68 effectively banned any gender affirming care or surgery for patients under 18 in 2024. Gov. Mike Dewine initially vetoed the ban, with the state legislature voting to overturn the veto. A long-standing legal battle now continues between the Ohio American Civil Liberties Union and the state government regarding HB 68, according to the ACLU website.
Basil Scalera, a freshman studying osteopathic medicine, is a member of Ohio University’s chapter of the Medical Student Pride Alliance. Scalera voiced their concern regarding the recent decision.
“It's tough because obviously, a patient's medical care is very private to them and their doctor, and with all this political frenzy going on, you'd kind of think that relationship would hold sacred,” Scalera said. “And so seeing that kind of be ripped away from thousands of patients that are receiving their care there and kind of lose that backbone of support, it's kind of devastating.”
Jane Balbo, a doctor of osteopathic medicine at Ohio Health, commented on the typical treatment regimens used for gender affirming care.
Balbo said doctors will sometimes prescribe puberty blockers if treatment is started at the beginning of puberty. The medication halts the individual's puberty cycle so one does not produce the hormones that align with the sex assigned at birth.
Another common course of treatment is providing the patient with hormones such as testosterone to provide masculinization, or estrogen for feminization, based on the patient's gender identity.
Balbo said if an individual is removed from the care, the body will begin developing physical traits of the sex assigned at birth. Balbo stated this will likely cause mental health concerns for many transgender patients.
“If you're someone who lives at odds with your body all the time,” Scalera said. “Suddenly having to look in the mirror and see someone that you were not prepared to see, someone that's not you, that's just going to do untold damage to people's psyches.”
Balbo also cited the high rates of suicide in transgender youth who don’t receive gender-affirming care. Of transgender individuals, 82% have considered suicide, with 40% having attempted suicide, according to a study by the National Library of Medicine. The study also found that suicidality is highest in transgender youth.
Ohio Health has resources for transgender individuals listed on its website. The list includes organizations such as Stonewall Columbus, which offers advocacy and support groups, and Equality Ohio, a clinic that provides legal services to LGBTQIA+ Ohioans.
Additionally, Ohio Health provides patients with hormone therapy, gender reassignment surgery and other medical support for transgender individuals, according to its website.
Scalera commented on the state of resources available to transgender people in the state.
“In my experience, it was kind of like a shallow pool that is now drying up a little,” Scalera said. “I think if you have a lot of time and dedication and really good insurance, you could find care still, but it's definitely not accessible in any sense of the word.”
According to the statement by Nationwide Children’s, it will work with patients currently receiving medication to end their prescriptions, ensuring patient safety. It will also continue to provide these patients with behavioral health services and other needed healthcare.
“I just think it's really unfortunate that gender identity and the lives and experiences of transgender people have become an issue of debate,” Balbo said. “People who identify as transgender or gender diverse in other ways, that is their experience and that is their identity and providing gender affirming care can be the difference between someone living their true best life and feeling comfortable in their body and feeling safe in their body versus feeling unsafe in their body.”
