By Liz Nass
Gongwer News Service
Two major health systems in Michigan pulled gender-affirming care services for minors. Attorney General Dana Nessel and LGBTQ advocates say the decision is harmful and possibly illegal.
In the past month, both the University of Michigan’s hospital system and Corewell Health announced they would end transgender healthcare for patients under 19.
Corewell Health cites this decision to the “serious risk of legal and regulatory action,” and the University of Michigan said in the face of this decision, they are working with the families of those minors to find continuity of care.
“This cure is still legal, and (the families) are telling us loudly that their kids still need access to this care, and us, combined with them, are held back on where they can continue to get it,” said Emme Zanotti, senior director of movement building and political affairs for Equality Michigan.
President Donald Trump’s administration has issued executive orders to halt gender-affirming care, threatening to pull funding or subpoena health care facilities based on these practices.
Despite federal orders, Nessel reissued guidance on providing gender-affirming care when University of Michigan canceled services, backing up the Michigan law that prohibits discrimination when delivering health care services. She also said access to federal funds does not relieve facilities from “the obligation to comply with Michigan laws.”
“Refusing health care services to a class of individuals based on their protected status, such as withholding the availability of services from transgender individuals based on their gender identity or their diagnosis of gender dysphoria, while offering such services to cisgender individuals, may constitute discrimination under Michigan law,” an open letter from Nessel said.
Nessel called the decision from University of Michigan “shameful, dangerous and potentially illegal.”
“This cowardly acquiescence to political pressure from this president and his administration is not what patients have come to expect from an institution that has labeled itself, ‘the leaders and the best,’ and my department will be considering all of our options if they violate Michigan law,” Nessel said in a statement.
At the start of August, Nessel filed a suit against the Trump administration to block targeting providers of gender-affirming care for youth and one court found the investigations “malicious” and unlawful.
She said with a history of successful legal challenges from her administration, the University of Michigan has “chosen instead to sacrifice the health, well-being, and likely the very lives of Michigan children, to protect itself from the ire of an administration who, oftentimes, engages in unlawful actions itself.”
When Corewell Health also decided to end gender-affirming care for minors, Nessel released a statement last Friday saying the health system had chosen to “capitulate to the federal administration’s discriminatory campaign,” though Corewell was not a target.
“Corewell’s shortsighted approach to conform their treatment options and ‘obey in advance’ fails to adequately consider the long-term consequences to the health, safety and well-being of their patients,” Nessel said in a statement. “Michigan law has not changed; gender affirming care remains legal and is approved healthcare by leading healthcare associations.”
In a statement to Gongwer News Service, Corewell Health said that due to the risk of action from the Trump administration, they made the decision to no longer prescribe puberty blockers or hormone therapy “for gender affirmation” to protect both their health care providers and patients “like many health care systems across the country.”
“We will continue to compassionately address the health needs of our patients who are in transition or wish to transition, including providing mental health support,” Gillian Conrad, strategic communication partner for Corewell Health said.
The University of Michigan also emphasized that it was one of the many institutions, saying in a statement to Gongwer News Service they received a federal subpoena as part of a criminal and civil investigation into gender-affirming care, and in light of the investigation, they made the decision to cut the care.
“We recognize the gravity and impact of this decision for our patients and our community,” Mary Masson, senior director of public relations for Michigan Medicine, said. “We are working closely with all those impacted, and we will continuously support the well-being of our patients, their families, and our teams.”
Masson said their clinicians are still providing the highest quality care and are communicating directly with patients and families in these changes.
“We are committed to approaching each patient’s situation with compassion and will work closely with patients and families to provide referrals for mental health and continuity of care,” she said. “We will continue to see gender-diverse patients in our clinics for all other services, including behavioral health and social work consultations. We will work with each individual patient to wind down care in the coming weeks.”
Zanotti said the misconceptions about healthcare for transgender youth is fervent. She said care really looks like a conversation with parents and doctors on evidence-based, peer-reviewed research for an uncommon case of children expressing concerns about their gender.
“What this health care has meant to countless trans kids across the state in the country has seen them go from having worse moods to better, seeing their condition, their emotional state, really improve,” Zanotti said. “These families rely on this health care to make sure that their kids, like everyone’s kids in this country, get an opportunity to live happily and thrive. The prospect of having this care taken away from them is a real threat to the wellbeing and livelihood of their kids, and so they’re very, very horrified by what’s transpired here.”
There is no circumstance, Zanotti said, that pulling this healthcare would not be premature, barring a piece of legislation from Congress.
She said actions like this from the health systems are dangerous to every Michigander because if the state’s health care providers simply let Trump decide if he likes a certain health care to not to distribute it to patients, then it could trickle down into birth control, HIV prevention, abortion access or emotional health care.
This action is just allowing the federal government to do whatever the president wishes, Zanotti said.
She said, legally, this access could be a gray area because there are some children that are not transgender youth receiving services like puberty blockers for hormone therapies across the board. She said now some kids will and some will not receive this care based on their identity, being in direct violation of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act that protects these children.
However, Jay Kaplan, Nancy Katz & Margo Dichtelmiller LGBTQ+ Rights Project staff attorney for ACLU of Michigan, said there could also be legal challenges on medical malpractice if the health systems just stop care without providing referrals or other resources.
Looking at viability in these lawsuits, Kaplan said the legal process can be slow, possibly taking several years when the immediate need of these families is access to these treatments.
He said he feels optimistic in the face of Nessel joining more lawsuits against Trump, saying the lower courts have been doing the right thing, but he is still worried the U.S. Supreme Court could lift these early preliminary injunctions.
Kaplan said an executive order overall does not usurp state laws or case law precedent on gender-affirming care, and that the next step of fighting this at the federal level is having a legislative majority that checks the administration, which he says is not happening now.
The next steps for Equality Michigan, Zanotti said, is developing new infrastructure if needed for people to receive this health care. She said resistance on their front is not running public accountability for Corewell Health but instead focusing on their community and what they need.
“We don’t 100% know what that’s going to look like in this very kind of turbulent, hostile, anti-trans era of federal politics, but we do know that there are a lot of serious players across the state of Michigan working on back filling access to care for these kids,” Zanotti said.
Gongwer News Service
Two major health systems in Michigan pulled gender-affirming care services for minors. Attorney General Dana Nessel and LGBTQ advocates say the decision is harmful and possibly illegal.
In the past month, both the University of Michigan’s hospital system and Corewell Health announced they would end transgender healthcare for patients under 19.
Corewell Health cites this decision to the “serious risk of legal and regulatory action,” and the University of Michigan said in the face of this decision, they are working with the families of those minors to find continuity of care.
“This cure is still legal, and (the families) are telling us loudly that their kids still need access to this care, and us, combined with them, are held back on where they can continue to get it,” said Emme Zanotti, senior director of movement building and political affairs for Equality Michigan.
President Donald Trump’s administration has issued executive orders to halt gender-affirming care, threatening to pull funding or subpoena health care facilities based on these practices.
Despite federal orders, Nessel reissued guidance on providing gender-affirming care when University of Michigan canceled services, backing up the Michigan law that prohibits discrimination when delivering health care services. She also said access to federal funds does not relieve facilities from “the obligation to comply with Michigan laws.”
“Refusing health care services to a class of individuals based on their protected status, such as withholding the availability of services from transgender individuals based on their gender identity or their diagnosis of gender dysphoria, while offering such services to cisgender individuals, may constitute discrimination under Michigan law,” an open letter from Nessel said.
Nessel called the decision from University of Michigan “shameful, dangerous and potentially illegal.”
“This cowardly acquiescence to political pressure from this president and his administration is not what patients have come to expect from an institution that has labeled itself, ‘the leaders and the best,’ and my department will be considering all of our options if they violate Michigan law,” Nessel said in a statement.
At the start of August, Nessel filed a suit against the Trump administration to block targeting providers of gender-affirming care for youth and one court found the investigations “malicious” and unlawful.
She said with a history of successful legal challenges from her administration, the University of Michigan has “chosen instead to sacrifice the health, well-being, and likely the very lives of Michigan children, to protect itself from the ire of an administration who, oftentimes, engages in unlawful actions itself.”
When Corewell Health also decided to end gender-affirming care for minors, Nessel released a statement last Friday saying the health system had chosen to “capitulate to the federal administration’s discriminatory campaign,” though Corewell was not a target.
“Corewell’s shortsighted approach to conform their treatment options and ‘obey in advance’ fails to adequately consider the long-term consequences to the health, safety and well-being of their patients,” Nessel said in a statement. “Michigan law has not changed; gender affirming care remains legal and is approved healthcare by leading healthcare associations.”
In a statement to Gongwer News Service, Corewell Health said that due to the risk of action from the Trump administration, they made the decision to no longer prescribe puberty blockers or hormone therapy “for gender affirmation” to protect both their health care providers and patients “like many health care systems across the country.”
“We will continue to compassionately address the health needs of our patients who are in transition or wish to transition, including providing mental health support,” Gillian Conrad, strategic communication partner for Corewell Health said.
The University of Michigan also emphasized that it was one of the many institutions, saying in a statement to Gongwer News Service they received a federal subpoena as part of a criminal and civil investigation into gender-affirming care, and in light of the investigation, they made the decision to cut the care.
“We recognize the gravity and impact of this decision for our patients and our community,” Mary Masson, senior director of public relations for Michigan Medicine, said. “We are working closely with all those impacted, and we will continuously support the well-being of our patients, their families, and our teams.”
Masson said their clinicians are still providing the highest quality care and are communicating directly with patients and families in these changes.
“We are committed to approaching each patient’s situation with compassion and will work closely with patients and families to provide referrals for mental health and continuity of care,” she said. “We will continue to see gender-diverse patients in our clinics for all other services, including behavioral health and social work consultations. We will work with each individual patient to wind down care in the coming weeks.”
Zanotti said the misconceptions about healthcare for transgender youth is fervent. She said care really looks like a conversation with parents and doctors on evidence-based, peer-reviewed research for an uncommon case of children expressing concerns about their gender.
“What this health care has meant to countless trans kids across the state in the country has seen them go from having worse moods to better, seeing their condition, their emotional state, really improve,” Zanotti said. “These families rely on this health care to make sure that their kids, like everyone’s kids in this country, get an opportunity to live happily and thrive. The prospect of having this care taken away from them is a real threat to the wellbeing and livelihood of their kids, and so they’re very, very horrified by what’s transpired here.”
There is no circumstance, Zanotti said, that pulling this healthcare would not be premature, barring a piece of legislation from Congress.
She said actions like this from the health systems are dangerous to every Michigander because if the state’s health care providers simply let Trump decide if he likes a certain health care to not to distribute it to patients, then it could trickle down into birth control, HIV prevention, abortion access or emotional health care.
This action is just allowing the federal government to do whatever the president wishes, Zanotti said.
She said, legally, this access could be a gray area because there are some children that are not transgender youth receiving services like puberty blockers for hormone therapies across the board. She said now some kids will and some will not receive this care based on their identity, being in direct violation of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act that protects these children.
However, Jay Kaplan, Nancy Katz & Margo Dichtelmiller LGBTQ+ Rights Project staff attorney for ACLU of Michigan, said there could also be legal challenges on medical malpractice if the health systems just stop care without providing referrals or other resources.
Looking at viability in these lawsuits, Kaplan said the legal process can be slow, possibly taking several years when the immediate need of these families is access to these treatments.
He said he feels optimistic in the face of Nessel joining more lawsuits against Trump, saying the lower courts have been doing the right thing, but he is still worried the U.S. Supreme Court could lift these early preliminary injunctions.
Kaplan said an executive order overall does not usurp state laws or case law precedent on gender-affirming care, and that the next step of fighting this at the federal level is having a legislative majority that checks the administration, which he says is not happening now.
The next steps for Equality Michigan, Zanotti said, is developing new infrastructure if needed for people to receive this health care. She said resistance on their front is not running public accountability for Corewell Health but instead focusing on their community and what they need.
“We don’t 100% know what that’s going to look like in this very kind of turbulent, hostile, anti-trans era of federal politics, but we do know that there are a lot of serious players across the state of Michigan working on back filling access to care for these kids,” Zanotti said.
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