On December 18, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced that the Trump administration would crack down on institutions performing "gender-affirming care" on children. That includes puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and "sex-rejecting [surgical] procedures" on children. Providers that refuse to comply would lose Medicare and Medicaid funding.
While some objected to this, two Colorado hospitals pulled the plug on "gender-affirming care" for minors. Now, the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and UW Health, two of the state's biggest pediatric providers, said they too will halt such care.
Breaking: Children's and UW Health, Wisconsin's two largest pediatric hospitals, halt youth gender-affirming care at clinics less than a month after Kennedy unveiled new rules to restrict hospitals from providing gender-affirming care to youth patients. https://t.co/gM2HI1tJhq
— Natalie Eilbert (@natalie_eilbert) January 12, 2026
Children's Wisconsin and UW Health, two of the state's largest pediatric hospitals, have paused gender-affirming care treatment for minors, according to sources associated with both clinics.
The move comes less than a month after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced newly proposed rules on Dec. 18 that the federal government would deny Medicaid and Medicare payments to hospitals and clinics for all medical interventions if they provide gender-affirming care services for patients 17 and younger. Such a move would virtually shut down any hospital.
The rules specifically would bar Medicaid payments for gender-affirming treatments for minors, remove gender dysphoria from being protected under a federal disability law, and halt manufacturers from marketing breast binders to children and adolescents.
This will undoubtedly be a blow to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, who bashed Republicans over denying kids "the care they need."
While Children's Wisconsin and UW Health are complying, one family pharmacy is refusing to follow the government's guidance on this.
Fitchburg Family Pharmacy in Wisconsin says they "WILL NOT STOP" prescribing and distributing puberty blockers and hormone drugs to CHILDREN, violating Trump's EO.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 12, 2026
They want to keep chemically castrating your children in the name of gender ideology.
They should be immediately… pic.twitter.com/7ALy4qPN2N
"Trans kids deserve care. We will continue to provide it. Fitchburg Family Pharmacy will continue dispensing gender-affirming medications for trans and gender-diverse youth with dignity, privacy, and respect. Our commitment to our patients does not change when the landscape does," the pharmacy wrote on Facebook.
Owner Thad Schumacher also made a promise, writing (emphasis original), "As the father of a trans person, and lifelong healthcare provider, it is extremely important to me that trans patients are able to access the gender affirming care they need. Despite the rules proposed by the Trump Administration, we will continue providing pediatric gender affirming care in person and over telehealth. We will not stop prescribing and dispensing puberty blockers and other hormone therapies to patients of all ages. The federal landscape may change, but my promise will not."
The Evers administration has joined a multi-state lawsuit opposing the new HHS rules, and it appears the Dairy State is going to be a battleground for this issue.
This is a fight worth having. "Gender-affirming care" is actually what RFK Jr. described it as: gender-denying care. It harms children and should be banned across the United States.
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