Transgender youth in Wisconsin are being denied legal, doctor-recommended medical care — not because the law changed, but because two of the state's most powerful health systems are choosing to wait.

Children's Wisconsin and UW Health both paused gender-affirming care for minors at the start of 2026, citing threats from the Trump administration to cut off Medicare and Medicaid funding to hospitals providing transition-related care. That threat has now been struck down in federal court. In April, a federal judge ruled that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not have the legal authority to make that threat — and specifically barred the administration from enforcing it against Wisconsin.

The legal landscape has changed. Wisconsin is protected. And yet both hospitals are still saying no.

"While I would say that the decision to pause care, even originally, was the wrong decision, the legal landscape has changed," said Abigail Swetz, executive director of Fair Wisconsin, an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. "There are more protections, and it's time to restart this care."

She's not alone. More than 60 advocacy organizations and businesses in Wisconsin have signed a letter calling on both hospitals to resume services. The Trans & Gender Diverse Elected Officials Delegation — made up of local, state, and federal officeholders — has also written to the hospitals, saying they are "deeply disappointed" by the continued pause.

Both Children's Wisconsin and UW Health have stated publicly that they believe gender-affirming care is "evidence-based." And yet they are not providing it. Families who depend on these hospitals — which together serve a significant portion of Wisconsin's transgender youth — are being left without access to care their own doctors have recommended.

Other states' hospitals have already moved forward. Children's Minnesota resumed gender-affirming services in April. The Colorado Supreme Court ordered Children's Hospital Colorado to do the same. Wisconsin's hospitals have the legal protection to act. They are choosing not to.

We are calling on the leadership of Children's Wisconsin and UW Health to resume gender-affirming care for transgender youth immediately. Courts have ruled. Wisconsin is protected. Every day of delay is another day a young person goes without the care they need.