Attorney General Bonta Sues Rady Children’s Health for Illegally Ending Gender-Affirming Care

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today filed a lawsuit against Rady Children’s Health (Rady) for closing its gender-affirming care program for patients under the age of 19. In the lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta argues that Rady’s decision to end care violates legally binding conditions placed by Attorney General Bonta on Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego’s merger with Children’s Hospital of Orange County and its affiliates (CHOC).

“Rady Children’s Health has chosen to violate its merger agreement and California law in response to the Trump Administration’s illegal campaign against providers of gender-affirming care,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Rady flagrantly disregarded its legal obligations by unilaterally deciding to preemptively comply with the Administration’s demands and cease medically necessary care for roughly 1,450 patients. 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.”

On November 4, 2024, Attorney General Bonta conditionally approved the merger of Rady with CHOC. The merger conditions included a requirement that Rady maintain existing levels of specialty healthcare services — including gender-affirming care — through 2034. The conditions also prohibit Rady from discriminating on the basis of gender, gender identity, and other specified protected characteristics. Under the conditions, Rady was required to obtain approval from the Attorney General before it reduced or eliminated gender-affirming care. On January 20, Rady announced that, effective February 6, it will stop providing medically necessary gender-affirming care to all patients under the age of 19. Rady did not notify the Attorney General as required under the conditions, and the Attorney General did not approve Rady’s decision.

In today’s lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta asks the California Superior Court of San Diego to issue — alongside civil penalties and other equitable relief — a permanent injunction requiring Rady to restore all gender-affirming care services to the same types and levels of care as were provided at the time of Rady’s merger in January 2025. In the lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta argues that:

• By attempting to end the provision of medically necessary gender-affirming care for patients under the age of 19, Rady has violated California law by disregarding its obligations under the conditions placed on its merger without justifying its actions or obtaining Attorney General Bonta’s consent to amend those conditions.  
• Rady’s disregard of the merger conditions also constitutes an unlawful business practice in violation of the Unfair Competition Act.

Attorney General Bonta has a history of challenging attacks on transgender individuals’ access to gender-affirming care. On August 1, 2025, Attorney General Bonta co-led a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Justice’s threat to prosecute providers of medically necessary gender-affirming care for patients under the age of 19, even in states where state law protects such care. On December 23, 2025, Attorney General Bonta filed a lawsuit challenging U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s declaration claiming gender-affirming care fails to meet professionally recognized standards of care, and, as such, HHS may disqualify doctors and hospitals that provide such care from Medicare and Medicaid.