Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Rule Changes

No longer initiating gender-affirming medications for patients under 18

Lurie Children's Hospital opened the Midwest's first pediatric gender identity clinic in 2013. Thirteen years later, it announced it will no longer prescribe gender-affirming medications to new patients under 18—days after HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart referred the hospital for federal investigation. Lurie joins at least 40 hospital systems that have paused or ended pediatric gender services since January 2025, including Rady Children's Health—California's largest pediatric healthcare system—which announced on January 23, 2026, it will stop all gender-affirming medical interventions on February 6. On February 3, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Rady for violating legally binding merger conditions that required the hospital to maintain gender-affirming care through 2034.

Updated Feb 6