State of California sues Rady Children’s Hospital over dropping gender-affirming care services

SAN DIEGO (NBC, KYMA) - Rady Children's Hospital is being sued by the state of California after announcing it would close its center for gender-affirming care.

The closure was in response to a federal investigation by the Trump Administration, targeting hospitals nationwide that offer those services.

It was over a week ago when people lined the streets of Children's Way outside Rady Children's Hospital to protest the hospital's decision to close its center for gender-affirming care.

The person who organized the protest was Kathie Moehlig, CEO of Trans Family Services.

"I don't look at Rady as the villain in here at all. The federal administration is absolutely the villain pulling all the levers of fear and intimidation," Moehlig expressed.

Her child was the first patient to receive gender-affirming care at Rady's more than a decade ago, and Moehlig was later part of the effort to launch the program.

"We worked together, us supporting families, us referring families to them...Serving hundreds, thousands of families that they and CHOC are serving that we serve, dealing with the devastation these families have, dealing with a sense of betrayal that these families have," Moehlig shared.

Now, on top of a federal investigation by Health and Human Services, Rady Children's Hospital has a lawsuit on its hands from Attorney General Bonta.

The suit states the hospital violated the terms of its January 2025 merger with Children's Hospital of Orange County.

As part of the deal approved by the attorney general, they agreed to continue providing youth with gender-affirming care.

It also claims the hospital is violating state discrimination laws on the basis of sex or gender.

A statement from Bonta's office reads in part, "We will not allow Rady to violate its obligations to its patients and the State. We will fight to uphold the law and ensure Californians can access gender-affirming care without facing unfair roadblocks."

"When we look at the hundreds and hundreds of nearly 2,000 across four counties of patients that are going to be affected by this, somebody needed to step in and say something about it," Moehlig remarked.

In the meantime, patients under the age of 18 who were receiving gender-affirming care at Rady Children's Hospital no longer are, and no longer can.

The hospital previously stated it would continue to provide counseling, mental health resources and care coordination.

Rady Children's Hospital sent an NBC affiliate in San Diego a statement, saying they are reviewing the lawsuit, and cannot comment on pending litigation, but they said in part:

"The recent changes to our gender-affirming care services reflect a very difficult decision. That decision was guided by our responsibilities as a nonprofit pediatric healthcare system to continue serving all children and families across our communities, including through participation in essential federal programs."

To learn more about the lawsuit, click here.