Trump shuts down child mutilation clinic in the US

Following the signing of an executive order by President Donald Trump on January 28, 2025, which prohibits the use of federal funds for gender-affirming treatments in minors, one of the country’s largest clinics dedicated to these procedures announced its permanent closure. The order, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” (EO 14187), bans the use of resources from federal programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and medical grants to finance hormone treatments, puberty blockers, and surgeries for individuals under the age of 19. The measure reverses policies from the Biden administration that had protected gender identity in the context of public health.

As a direct consequence of this policy, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) announced it would shut down its Center for Transyouth Health and Development, which had been serving approximately 3,000 patients. The closure will take effect on July 22, 2025. This unit offered services ranging from psychological support to hormone treatments for minors. The hospital had already paused these services in February, and although some were resumed, surgeries for minors were not reinstated.

This is not an isolated case. Stanford Medicine announced in June that it would stop performing gender-affirming surgeries on minors. In Washington, D.C., Children’s National Hospital stated it would stop prescribing gender-affirming medications for minors starting August 30, 2025, citing legal and regulatory risks. At the same time, multiple lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration by groups such as ACLU, Lambda Legal, and PFLAG, arguing that the executive order is unconstitutional and discriminates against transgender individuals.

President Trump has defended these measures by stating that his administration seeks to protect the innocence of American children from irreversible procedures driven by a radical and anti-scientific ideology. These actions represent a drastic shift from the previous administration and have sparked a deep national debate on health care, the rights of minors, and the role of the federal government in medical decisions.