Protesters call for reinstatement of gender-affirming care for Michigan Medicine patients under 19

It's been one year since Michigan Medicine ended gender affirming care for patients under 19 years old. The move came amid political and legal pressure from the Trump administration.

Protesters are calling on the University of Michigan Board of Regents to reconsider that decision.

According to Michigan Medicine's website, the hospital stopped offering gender-affirming care to patients under 19 due to "unprecedented legal and regulatory threats to our clinicians and our institution."

Protesters argue that those threats are no longer a barrier to making this type of care available, now, one year later.

"The reasons that they gave, the administrative subpoena and the threat to Medicare and Medicaid funding institutionally have fallen away," said organizer Emma Kenny.

Protesters say they consider gender-affirming care to be life-saving and medically necessary, and removing access puts minors at high risk.

"Children are particularly vulnerable because rates of depression, suicidality, and suicide are much higher for trans people if they are not receiving gender affirming care," said protester Lauren Gaboury.

They also say ending access for 18-year-olds threatens their rights to make their own medical decisions.

U of M Regent Paul Brown says reinstating access to gender affirming care is up to Michigan Medicine, but that doesn't mean regents can't influence that decision.

"It's a decision of the hospital administrators, and we have a new one literally starting today, and I will have a meeting with him this afternoon to talk about the issue," Brown said.

CBS News Detroit reached out to Michigan Medicine and received the following statement: 

At University of Michigan Health, our gender services care always involves compassionate, individualized support for each patient. We are committed to comprehensive, multidisciplinary care — including mental health services and support — to ensure patients and families can make informed decisions that are right for them.

We recognize the gravity and impact of our decision to discontinue pediatric gender affirming care for our patients under 19 years old. We have worked closely with and will continuously support the well-being of our patients, their families, and our care teams.

We continue to monitor the legal and regulatory landscape but are not planning any changes to our current care.

We are deeply grateful to our clinicians for their unyielding commitment to providing the highest quality care, and to all of our team members for their dedication to helping our patients, and to supporting each other, as we navigate these changes together.

Michigan Medicine still offers gender affirming medical therapy and surgery for anyone 19 and older, but those options will continue to be unavailable for patients younger than that for now.