In Democratic-Led Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Hospital Caves to Trump. Trans Kids Could Lose Care for a Decade

This story originally appeared on The Advocate.Pennsylvania trans rights activists protested the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s agreement to stop providing gender-affirming medical care to patients under 19 for the next decade.About 20 people protested outside UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in Lawrenceville on Sunday, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The protest came after UPMC agreed to pay the federal government $950,000 to resolve an investigation into alleged billing practices related to gender-affirming care for minors. The settlement also includes protections for patients’ private medical information. UPMC denied any wrongdoing.Related: Trump administration abandons legal appeal for trans kids’ medical recordsThe hospital is one of six major hospital systems to reach agreements with the Trump administration to end such care for minors. Activists said the agreement would harm transgender youth in Pennsylvania and could cost lives.“Trans kids become trans adults,” activist Ash Franzetti told the Post-Gazette. “If they can’t receive gender-affirming care as a kid, they’re not going to survive to adulthood.”The Justice Department announced its settlement with UPMC on September 18, alongside a similar agreement with New York University Langone Hospitals. NYU Langone agreed to pay $8.5 million.“The Department of Justice is fighting to protect our nation’s children and working tirelessly to reach agreements with hospitals to end so-called ‘gender affirming care’ for minors,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Today’s resolutions send a clear message: hospitals that target children in these practices and then fraudulently obtain payment for the procedures will be held to account.”The Justice Department said its claims were allegations and that neither hospital admitted liability.UPMC had already stopped providing certain gender-affirming medical care to young patients in June 2025, citing the risk of fe