‘People are going to die’: VCU Health to end gender-affirming care for youth

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — On Tuesday, officials at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health announced they would begin rolling back gender-affirming care for youth over the next 90 days.

"It breaks my heart that there are people who are not going to be able to get that care," said 21-year-old Jasmine Khatcheressian, a transgender woman. "And it breaks my heart that people are going to die because of that."

Khatcheressian began receiving this type of care through Planned Parenthood at 18-years-old. She said without it, she wouldn’t be where she is today.

"I wouldn't be thinking about my future. I wouldn't be doing any of the things that I am doing now. I would be sitting in my room trying to figure out how to get to the next day," Khatcheressian said.

Now, it's becoming reality for youth looking to receive services at VCU Health.

The webpage describing transgender care offered at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU was updated on July 29, to state that the facility would “cease providing gender-affirming care” for “youth under age 19.”

So, what is gender affirming care?

"Gender-affirming care is health care," said Shannon McKay, executive director of He She Ze and We, a nonprofit organization that supports nonbinary and transgender people. "When you go to the gynecologist, so to speak, that's gender-affirming care. When a cisgender man, is aging and wants testosterone, that's gender-affirming care."

Khatcheressian is a summer intern at He She Ze and We, she said she started receiving gender-affirming care in the form of hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, right before she turned 19.

"I started to think about my gender seriously, probably when I was, I would say around 13 or 14," she said. "I distinctly remember being in like my freshman year of high school and knowing of myself that I wanted breasts."

She said her life has changed for the better since starting HRT.

"I look more like a woman than I did three years ago, and it's so much truer to how I feel I should be experiencing the world," Khatcheressian said.

It's why McKay and Khatcheressian said they believe this decision will have negative impacts on youth.

"It feels impossible to me that people aren't going to die because of this," Khatcheressian said.

The decision follows a January executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which cut federal funding from institutions offering gender-affirming care to individuals under 18.

"Executive orders, if people need to know, they're not law," McKay said. " State law in Virginia, actually says gender-affirming care for minors is legal. It makes me wonder why our health systems are cowering to this pressure."

VCU’s rollback is set to take place gradually over the next three months. For more information, you can find VCU Health’s statement here.