January 6, 2026
The Central Conference of American Rabbis is appalled by the Trump Administration’s proposal to withhold all federal funds from hospitals that provide lifesaving gender affirming care to transgender youth. The withheld funds would include Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement for all patient care, effectively closing hospitals that would continue to provide evidence-based medicine to transgender youth.
The claim that gender affirming medical care is not grounded in science is false. Multiple studies have demonstrated that gender affirming care is safe[i]—and more importantly, it saves the lives of youth experiencing gender dysphoria, who are at a heightened risk of suicide if untreated.[ii] If the proposed regulation were to go into effect, medical care across the United States would be withheld from minors experiencing gender dysphoria on the basis of ideology rather than evidence.
Jewish health care providers and Jewish-supported hospitals are bound by a religious obligation, grounded in our sacred texts, to provide gender affirming care to minors as an act of פיקוח נפש (pikuach nefesh), “saving life.” The obligation to provide health care is clear in the sacred texts of our tradition.[iii] Moreover, “To ignore the cries of trans children who beg their doctors to help them materialize their identity would be a crime akin to murder, no different from denying care to a patient with the flu or Crohn’s Disease.”[iv] The same may be true of health-care providers of other faiths. The proposal would therefore impinge upon Americans’ First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.
Some CCAR rabbis have transgender children who are accessing or may need to access gender affirming care. Virtually every community served by CCAR rabbis includes children whose lives have been saved by gender affirming care and others whose lives would be threatened if the proposed rule were to go into effect. Reform rabbis pledge our support to one another, to each other’s children, and to the young people in our communities.
In the strongest terms, the Central Conference of American Rabbis urges the Trump Administration to withdraw this proposal, even as we call upon Congress and the courts to invalidate it should it go into effect.
Rabbi David A. Lyon, President
Rabbi Hara E. Person, Chief Executive
Central Conference of American Rabbis
[i] Stephanie L. Budge, et al, “Gender Affirming Care Is Evidence Based for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Youth, Journal of Adolescent Health, Volume 75, Issue 6, December 2024, https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(24)00439-7/fulltext.
[ii]Diana M. Tordoff, et al, “Mental Health Outcomes in Transgender and Nonbinary Youths Receiving Gender-Affirming Care,” National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, NIH, July 1, 2022, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35212746/.
[iii] See, for example, Babylonian Talmud, Bava Kama 85a.
[iv] Beit Yosef, Yoreh Dei-ah 336:2, cited in Daniel Block, “The Halachic Mandate for Gender Affirming Care: Examining the Potential Efficacy of Religious Liberty Claims Made by Jewish Health Care Providers,” Brandeis University Law Journal, Fall 2022, Volume 10, Issue 1, 125.
CCAR statements are grounded in the history of CCAR resolutions and platforms. We strive to represent the overall voice of the CCAR leadership and the Reform rabbinate on critical issues of the day. The CCAR is a diverse community of rabbis, and we recognize the multiplicity of viewpoints that exist within our membership. We encourage those of differing perspectives to engage in respectful dialogue. It is our hope that these statements provide the Reform community with deeper understanding of important issues that impact our lives as Jews and as global citizens.