On Thursday, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) announced the pausing of its transgender youth healthcare program, citing insurmountable pressure from the Trump administration.In emails reviewed by The Los Angeles Times, the hospitals Center for Trans Youth began telling its nearly 3,000 patients families about its upcoming closure. Related Largest-ever survey of trans people reveals the real reason trans people detransition Conservatives say many trans people later regret their transitions. Thats untrue, but here are the facts Were just disappointed and scared and enraged, stated Maxine, the mother of a current patient, who declined to give her last name for fear of attacks on her son. The challenge is how we break news to this kid who has had such a positive experience with everybody at Childrens. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The emails state there was no viable alternative that would allow the hospital to continue specialized care.There is no doubt that this is a painful and significant change to our organization and a challenge to CHLAs mission, vision, and values, hospital executives wrote to staff in a Thursday morning email. The center will close on July 22, and the emails say the decision follows a lengthy and thorough assessment of the increasingly severe impacts of federal administrative actions and proposed policies.Executives have determined that continuing to operate the center would jeopardize the hospitals ability to care for its hundreds of thousands of patients, noting the continual attacks by federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, Health and Human Services, Medicare and Medicaid Services who have been issuing numerous threats towards doctors and hospitals providing gender-affirming care for trans youth, including threats of prosecution. These threats are no longer theoretical, the note said. Taken together, the Attorney General memo, HHS review, and the recent solicitation of tips from the FBI to report hospitals and providers of GAC strongly signal this Administrations intent to take swift and decisive action, both criminal and civil, against any entity it views as being in violation of the executive order.The hospitals Trans Youth Center is among the oldest and largest programs in the country and the only facility to provide puberty blockers and other gender-affirming care for trans youth on public insurance. But because the hospital is significantly more reliant on public funding than other pediatric medical facilities in California, it is particularly vulnerable to the actions and de-funding threats of the Trump administration. The severity is exacerbated even more when taking in account that 40% of pediatric beds in Los Angeles are at this hospital.CHLA has a responsibility to navigate this complex and uncertain regulatory environment in a way that allows us to remain open as much as possible for as many as possible, executives wrote. In the end, this painful and difficult decision was driven by the need to safeguard CHLAs ability to operate amid significant external pressures beyond our control. This isnt the first time this year however, that CHLA has announced that itll no longer provide gender-affirming services. On February 4, CHLA declared that it would stop providing hormonal therapy to transgender people under 19 in the wake of President Trumps executive order threatening to cut funding from hospitals treating trans patients under 19.This decision was met with protests, as hundreds gathered outside the childrens hospital in East Hollywood. The hospital reversed its decision a few weeks later when a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking Trumps Executive order.After that, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) issued a statement saying the hospitals cancellation of gender-affirming care violated the states Equal Protection laws. Let me be clear: California law has not changed, and hospitals and clinics have a legal obligation to provide equal access to healthcare services, Bonta said.Bonta has yet to respond to this current attempt to leave thousands of transgender patients without proper healthcare. Activists say this closure sets a dangerous precedent to other hospitals being pressured to cave by the current federal administration.CHLA needs to be a leader in this and stand up to the Trump administration, because other hospitals are taking note of what theyre doing, said Maebe Pudlow, a trans nonbinary activist who helped organize the February protests.It feels very conveniently timed when everybodys focus is on [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] raids happening in Los Angeles, the activist went on. I think its despicable.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.