Mom wants answers after she says teen daughter’s gender-affirming care abruptly ends

CINCINNATI (WXIX/Gray News) - A mother is demanding answers after she says her 15-year-old daughter was suddenly cut off from medical care she had been receiving for years.

Hollie Miller says her daughter was receiving gender-affirming care at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for the last four years, care she thought was protected under Ohio law.

In 2024, Ohio House Bill 68 went into effect, banning gender-affirming care for minors statewide. But the law included an exemption for patients who were already receiving care.

Miller says that the exemption is no longer being honored.

“When I see an injustice, I glove up, and I’m gloved up,” she said.

According to Miller, on Jan. 30, a Cincinnati Children’s doctor called to say her daughter’s gender-affirming care at the hospital was over.

“There’s one class of people that understand the totality and that would be the children denied who are denied access to care, my daughter now being one of those children,” Miller said.

The law barring gender-affirming care for youth in Ohio remains in effect despite ongoing litigation after a lawsuit was filed in 2025.

Under the law, a grandfather clause allows patients already receiving care to continue hormone and blocker treatments.

Miller says the law forced her family to start her daughter’s estrogen earlier than planned, a decision that allowed care to continue until last week.

“That is incredibly cruel, incredibly cruel,” Miller said.

Cincinnati Children’s operates a Transgender Health Center that offers individualized treatment planning, examinations and control of menstrual periods.

The website notes the team will continue following guidelines for treatments to the extent that they are “legally able in the state.”

The hospital declined to say whether it was still providing care to patients who started treatment before the ban.

“Cincinnati Children’s provides evidence-based, individualized care to all patients while adhering to the law,” the hospital said in a statement.

In 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to ensure hospitals receiving grants end transgender health care for minors. His administration labeled the practice “dangerous” for youth.

Proposed federal rule changes could also revoke Medicaid and Medicare funding from hospitals providing transgender care to minors.

Miller thinks the proposed federal changes are the reason behind her daughter’s care ending.

“As a mother and with my child, we have the right to make medical decisions without the government interfering in those choices,” Miller said. “It’s none of their business. The whole thing is just a shame.”

The deadline to provide public comment for the proposed rule change is Feb. 17.

Cincinnati Children’s did not immediately address a question regarding the future of its gender-affirming clinic.