TAKE ACTION FOR TRANS YOUTH LIVES

Dear CEO Leslie Davis, UPMC leadership, and the UPMC Board of Directors,

As a Pennsylvanian I am outraged that UPMC has decided to begin denying full gender affirming medical healthcare for new and some existing patients under 19 years old at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) given the current circumstances following Trump’s Executive Order dated January 28, 2025. This care at UPMC’s only gender clinic has been absolutely vital to the many young people who have depended on it for over a decade. You have saved the lives of countless transgender children and youth. Now you are putting those very lives in imminent danger and undoing years of community goodwill and trust you have tried so hard to rebuild.

By cutting off this care now, UPMC is voluntarily choosing anticipatory compliance without any promulgated regulation or court order. An Executive Order or memo mentioning potential future policies or regulations which then may threaten funding is not a mandate you are forced to adhere to right now. Even though federal courts have granted injunctions against this executive order, by UPMC agreeing to comply with a policy statement intimating illegal actions by our federal government, you are choosing to send a devastating message to the entire trans community that their health and futures are negotiable under political pressure. Continuing to provide comparable medical care to cisgender young people but not transgender youth is discrimination.

I join in calling on UPMC to immediately restore access to protect gender affirming healthcare for trans youth and young adults currently being turned away. Gender affirming care for youth is medically necessary, life-saving healthcare, supported by every major medical organization in the United States based on decades of scientific, evidence-based, peer-reviewed research. Evidence shows that without access to these interventions, youth — especially to those just starting puberty — will be harmed. This includes suffering physical changes that are not easily reversible, lifelong trauma in some cases, and when they have no hope of access to care — death. Evidence demonstrates the positive impact of gender affirming medical care, and also that behavioral health alone is not enough to save the lives of trans children and youth.

Let us be clear: Trump is trying to bully you into refusing care for some of our most vulnerable youth. This is not just about gender affirming care. If UPMC concedes now, we know what’s coming next: attacks on emergency care for immigrants, reproductive care, Medicaid access, and services for disabled people, cancer patients, and others who rely on healthcare institutions for life-saving treatment.

I join in the demands that UPMC:

1. Immediately reinstate full gender affirming care for new and existing patients at CHP in Pittsburgh given the current circumstances

2. Should a court order, law, or regulation specifically mandate UPMC cease direct gender affirming care for young trans people, UPMC must enthusiastically support and fund alternative providers to ensure trans youth receive the medically-necessary healthcare they need to survive

3. Establish an advisory committee for UPMC\\'s administration on gender affirming care, comprised of transgender youth and community leaders, and healthcare professionals, to meet before May 1, 2025

4. Not retaliate against LGBTQ+ communities and continue funding for local LGBTQ+ programs and LGBTQ+ healthcare

UPMC must reject political pressure and fulfill its responsibility to provide healthcare without discrimination. It is a moral atrocity to deny young patients medical treatment that saves lives. This policy position expressed by our federal government is designed as the first step to eliminate trans people from our society. Anticipatory compliance makes you complicit in their efforts. Trans youth and young adults deserve care not cruelty.

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