\u201cWe recognize that this change may be distressing,\u201d a spokesperson for University of Utah Health said in a statement.<\/p>\n
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Transgender rights protesters walk around in the Capitol rotunda on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. University of Utah Health is ending all remaining transgender care treatments for youth in anticipation of state and federal bans.<\/p>\n
In anticipation of full-scale state and federal bans, the University of Utah\u2019s health arm<\/a> is preemptively ending all remaining hormonal care for transgender youth.<\/p>\n Patients and their families were notified of the U.\u2019s decision to fully discontinue care earlier this month. Providers will be required to stop all such treatments by April 15.<\/p>\n Doctors have also been instructed they are not allowed to help coordinate hormonal care for patients elsewhere in the state, where it still might be an option.<\/p>\n \u201cWe recognize that this change may be distressing,\u201d a spokesperson for University of Utah Health said in a statement.<\/p>\n Already, the U. had shut down its popular health clinic for LGBTQ youth<\/a> after the Legislature\u2019s 2023 ban under SB16<\/a>, which prohibited doctors from providing gender-affirming care to any new transgender youth patients. <\/p>\n At the time, that was considered a \u201cmoratorium\u201d and only applied to minors who hadn\u2019t already been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n Existing patients have been able to continue seeking care.<\/p>\n But the Utah Legislature is poised this session to extend that moratorium to an all-out permanent ban, requiring doctors to effectively \u201cde-transition\u201d remaining patients.<\/p>\n That comes as President Donald Trump has also pushed, on a federal level, to end access to all gender-affirming care for transgender youth.<\/a> U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has threatened to withhold federal funds<\/a> from hospitals and health care institutions that provide that treatment, which would include the U. as a public facility.<\/p>\n It\u2019s because of that \u201cevolving state and federal landscape\u201d that the U. says it is moving away from offering specialized care for transgender patients under the age of 18.<\/p>\n There was already a limited numbers of patients under SB16, the U.\u2019s health care spokesperson said, and several more were going to age out in the coming year. There are fewer than 150 remaining patients, the school noted.<\/p>\n One of those Utah patients, a 13-year-old, is now traveling to Colorado to receive care at a private pay clinic. The Salt Lake Tribune has agreed not to identify the child or her parents due to their concerns about her medical privacy and the family\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n \u201cWe at least found a new place,\u201d her mom said. \u201cBut every escape avenue just keeps being closed off.\u201d<\/p>\n They worry about a federal ban and whether Utah may go after families who seek out-of-state care. The Republican-majority Utah Legislature has also proposed a bill that would require judges in custody cases for transgender children to give preferential favor to a parent who declines to support their child\u2019s gender identity.<\/a><\/p>\n That and similar measures have been filed despite the Legislature\u2019s own commissioned study<\/a> that concluded gender-affirming care for transgender minors has largely positive outcomes and reduces the likelihood of suicide. Hormone treatment, in particular, comes with little risk, the experts found<\/a>.<\/p>\n