Two Wisconsin hospital systems have paused gender-affirming medication and hormone care for minors. (Getty Creative)

Two Wisconsin hospital systems have paused providing gender-affirming health care for minors, according to a published report, prompting state lawmakers to urge them to reconsider.

“Wisconsin values include fairness, compassion and looking out for one another,” said state Sen. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove) and state Reps. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee), Margaret Arney (D-Wauwatosa) and Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton) in a joint statement Monday afternoon.

“This decision moves us away from those values by placing additional burdens on families who are already navigating complex medical health needs. Parents should be able to make informed decisions in consultation with qualified health care providers without political interference or fear,” the lawmakers said.  

The statement was issued under the umbrella of the Legislature’s Transgender Parent and Nonbinary Advocacy Caucus.

The group responded to reporting Monday in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Children’s Wisconsin, a children’s hospital and health system in suburban Milwaukee, and UW Health, in Madison had both paused prescribing gender-affirming medication such as puberty blockers and hormones for minors.

The news story initially attributed word of the changes to anonymous sources. Representatives of both hospital systems subsequently confirmed the facilities had taken action to stop providing care, except in the area of behavioral health.

On Dec. 18, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department announced that the federal government would stop all Medicaid and Medicare payments to hospitals and clinics that provide gender-affirming care for patients under the age of 18.

“At Children’s Wisconsin, we strongly believe everyone, including LGBTQ+ kids, should be treated with the support, respect, dignity and compassion they deserve,” a Children’s spokesperson told the Journal Sentinel. “We are communicating to patients that due to escalating legal and federal regulatory risk facing systems and providers across the nation, we are currently unable to provide gender affirming pharmacologic care.” Children’s Wisconsin will continue mental health and behavioral health services, the spokesperson said.

A UW Health spokesperson told the newspaper in a statement that the system “is committed to providing high-quality, compassionate and patient-centered care to our patients and families, including LGBTQ+ patients.”

The statement acknowledged that because of federal actions, “UW Health is pausing prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy as part of gender-affirming care for patients under 18 years of age.”

The lawmakers’ caucus statement, which did not name the medical systems, said that halting care could harm the mental health of young people receiving that care.

“Removing access to this care increases the risk of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts among young people who already are facing disproportionate mental health challenges,” the caucus statement said. It urged the health systems “to reconsider their decision.”

Abigail Swetz, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Fair Wisconsin, said in a statement that the Trump administration has been engaged in “disgusting” attacks on trans people since before taking office.

In pausing care the hospital systems made “an awful decision, and I believe it is the wrong decision — it’s a decision that is putting young patients, their families, and even their own providers in a very tough place,” Swetz said. “And at the same time, these clinics should never have been bullied by this federal administration into making any kind of decision in the first place, especially one that reduces access to this life-affirming care.”

Swetz said Fair Wisconsin was organizing public comment opposing the federal proposed rule and urged Wisconsinites to join the effort.