By Staff Reporter |

Phoenix Children’s Hospital no longer provides gender transitions for children, parents of gender dysphoric children learned this week. 

The hospital pumped the brakes for its Gender Support Program (formerly the Gender Management Program) shortly after President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning gender transitions for children, “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.” 

“Due to the recent executive order issued on January 28, 2025 Phoenix Children’s is indefinitely pausing gender-affirming medical care for children under the age of 19,” read a notice issued by the hospital to patient portals involved in their gender transition program.

Like Trump’s other executive orders, the president’s mandate ending gender transitions for children quickly faced legal challenges. 

As a result of its pause on the gender transition program, Phoenix Children’s Hospital arranged for its pharmacists to wean program children off of any puberty blockers or hormones.

On Monday, parents also received letters from providers Vinny Chulani and Ashish Patel advising of the end to puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy. 

The hospital marketed its Gender Support Program as the most comprehensive in the state. The program offered consultation for parenting strategies, endocrinology consults, and referrals to mental health providers and specialists for various procedures. 

These consultations would explore the use of puberty-suppressing medications as well as masculinizing and feminizing hormonal therapies. The hospital also provided support and advocacy for social transition endeavors in schools and the public through legal name and gender marker changes on identifying documents. 

At one time, the hospital affiliated its Gender Support Program with the Arizona Trans Youth and Parent Organization. 

Public details of the program in recent years became less available. After AZ Free News covered Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s gender transition program at length, the hospital scrubbed more public information of its program from its website. 

The extension of transgender ideology to children offered a sort of community for parents affirming the gender dysphoria of their children. Parents of children who underwent gender transition procedures offered by Phoenix Children’s Hospital would join the Gender Proud Patient and Family Advisory Council.

Activist groups issued a statement lamenting Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s decision as a “betrayal” to their cause. 

“Gender-affirming care has been shown to significantly improve the mental, emotional, and physical health of transgender youth,” said the coalition. “To remove access to this care in Arizona is a direct attack on the trans community and the families who have fought tirelessly for their children’s well-being.”

Those who signed onto the statement: Tami Staas, the Arizona Trans Youth and Parent Organization; Carol Tappenden, the Education Action Alliance (formerly GLSEN Arizona); Brandie Reiner, NASW Arizona; Dustin Griswold, Family Planning Associates Medical Group; Jeanne Casteen, Secular AZ; Civia Tamarkin, National Council of Jewish Women Arizona; Nate Rhoton, one-n-ten; Grace Chenal, SIGA Therapy; Darrell Hill, ACLU of Arizona; Lynn Davis, Rabbi Joseph H. Gumbiner Community Action Project; Lori Shepherd, Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center; Athena Salman, Reproductive Freedom for All Arizona; Maria Ingalla, psychiatric mental health nurse and practitioner; and Jodi Liggett, Arizona Center for Women’s Advancement.

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