Vanderbilt Health in Tennessee announced that it will stop providing transgender surgeries for adults. Non-surgical gender transition options for those above the age of 19, however, will continue.
A spokesperson for the hospital told News 2: “Due to operational limitations and lack of surgical coverage, Vanderbilt Health will cease providing gender-affirming plastic surgeries for adults. Vanderbilt Health continues to provide nonsurgical gender-affirming care for adults 19 years and older. Vanderbilt Health does not provide any gender-affirming care for patients younger than 19. We are in the process of contacting our patients regarding these changes.”
The decision comes as a bill currently circulating within the Tennessee legislature would prohibit the state’s TennCare program from covering or reimbursing transgender surgeries or puberty blockers.
In 2022, Tennessee Representative Jason Zachary wrote to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, urging it to cease its “surgical mutilations of minor children.”
A law banning transgender surgeries on minors became law in 2023. “This state has a legitimate, substantial, and compelling interest in protecting the integrity of the medical profession, including by prohibiting medical procedures that are harmful, unethical, immoral, experimental, or unsupported by high-quality or long-term studies, or that might encourage minors to become disdainful of their sex,” the legislation states. Tennessee also has a “compelling interest in promoting the dignity of minors.”
The law was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2025, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the 6-3 decision, “This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field. The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound. The Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements. Nor does it afford us license to decide them as we see best.”
