The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday issued a preliminary injunction, directing Children’s Hospital Colorado to resume offering transgender procedures for minors while a lawsuit over access continues.

“In a 5-2 decision, the state’s highest court concluded there is sufficient evidence that Children’s violated state antidiscrimination law when it suspended gender-affirming care earlier this year in the face of mounting federal threats,” The Colorado Sun reports.

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The majority ordered the case be returned to a lower court, where it said a judge should issue an injunction requiring that Children’s resume the care, which in this instance includes prescriptions for things like puberty blockers or hormone therapy.

Writing for the majority, Justice William Hood wrote that Children’s — or CHC, as Hood shorthanded it — had continued providing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to cisgender children when medically appropriate. That made the decision to stop providing them to transgender youth discrimination.

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“CHC’s decision to suspend medical gender-affirming care to youth denies petitioners the full and equal enjoyment of services based on gender identity,” he wrote.

In a dissent, Justice Brian Boatright wrote that the majority opinion too easily dismisses the context in which Children’s made its decision: threats from the federal government that could result in the entire hospital system being shut because of its provision of gender-affirming care. Justice Carlos Samour joined the dissent.

Children’s Hospital Colorado, along with Denver Health, halted all transgender procedures for minors, citing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) saying it would restrict federal funding from institutions that provide the procedures to minors.

“According to the court, CHC received $182.6 million in funding in 2024, mostly from the federal government. Almost half of the hospital’s patients were Medicaid enrollees,” KKTV stated.

“As a result, losing federal funding could have a significant impact on the hospital,” it added.

KKTV noted:

The dissenting opinion also argued that the use of puberty blockers for kids suffering from precocious puberty is medically different from their use for kids struggling with gender dysphoria.

In a statement, CHC responded to the decision saying the hospital is “reviewing the court’s ruling and assessing our next steps. While we do not have updates to share at this time, we will provide guidance in the near future.”

 

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