Ohio’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital discontinues gender affirming care
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Nationwide Children’s Hospital will no longer provide gender-affirming medication to its patients, according to a statement from the health care provider.
“Although we are currently in compliance with state and federal regulations, 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 September 26,” the hospital said in a statement.
The hospital stated that it would continue to work with affected patients to discontinue their prescriptions as the hospital undergoes the transition.
“Nationwide Children’s will continue to support these patients and families through the provision of behavioral health services, and any other needed healthcare,” the hospital said.
The Ohio Supreme Court agreed in July to decide whether House Bill 68, the 2023 law banning gender-affirming care for children, is constitutional. The law prevents doctors from prescribing hormones, puberty blockers or gender reassignment surgery before patients turn 18.
It also bans transgender girls and women from playing female sports at schools. However, the lawsuit didn’t address that section of the law.
An appeals court ruled in March that the law was unconstitutional. The 10th District Court of Appeals overruled a decision by a Franklin County judge that allowed the law to take effect in 2024.
Attorney General Dave Yost appealed the 10th District Court’s decision to the Ohio Supreme Court. The high court ruled in April that the state could continue to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors while a legal fight plays out.
Elsewhere, the U.S. Supreme Court, in June, upheld a Tennessee law that bars minors from using puberty blockers and hormone therapy, giving Ohio Republicans a sense of optimism that the ruling bodes well for the Ohio law. Yost said at the time that the ruling was “great news.”
(This story was updated to change or add a photo or video.)
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at [email protected], at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
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