The Colorado Supreme Court ordered Children’s Hospital Colorado on Monday to resume offering sex change drugs to minors who identify as transgender.
The state’s high court issued a 5-2 decision ruling that the hospital’s decision to stop offering sex change drugs after pressure from the Trump administration discriminates against patients based on their “gender identity” in violation of state law, Bloomberg Law reported.
Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHC) stopped offering sex change drugs to confused youth after Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a declaration in December warning that it would exclude entities from federal healthcare programs if they give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors. Justice William W. Hood III wrote in the court’s decision that Kennedy’s declaration is not federal law and should not influence CHC’s decision-making at the expense of transgender-identifying patients.
Colorado Supreme Court Justice William W. Hood, III, during a hearing on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
“CHC’s decision to suspend medical gender-affirming care to youth denies petitioners the full and equal enjoyment of services based on gender identity,” Justice Hood wrote, referencing the families of transgender-identifying youth who filed the lawsuit.
“The Kennedy Declaration isn’t federal law,” he later added. “A declaration from the HHS secretary can be a basis for exclusion from federal health care payment programs, but the Declaration itself isn’t a federal law banning gender-affirming care… the federal district court in Oregon has issued its opinion, concluding that the Kennedy Declaration is unlawful and enjoining HHS from initiating enforcement actions based, in whole or in part, on the Kennedy Declaration.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks during the Take Back Your Health Tour event at the state Capitol, Wednesday, February 4, 2026, in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Hood also suggested providers sue the Trump administration rather than cut off sex change drugs to minors and said the threat to the hospital’s federal funding “remains speculative” and “CHC has other avenues” if HHS makes good on its threat.
Justice Brian D. Boatright, joined by Justice Carlos A. Samour Jr., dissented, with Boatright writing that the majority “completely minimizes the reality of the situation. Furthermore, it brushes off these drastic consequences as speculative.” Boatright noted that the hospital acted because federal funding cuts could cause the entire hospital system to be shut down, the Colorado Sun reported.
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The Colorado Supreme Court ultimately ordered the case to return to a lower court for a judge to issue an injunction and require the hospital to resume providing sex change drugs to minors.
CHC told the outlet it 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,” the hospital said.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
