Oklahoma City-based OU Health will cut "some" gender medicine services after state lawmakers threatened to withhold funding, ABC affiliate KOCO reported Sept. 27.
A new bill would allow OU Health to build a $39.4 million pediatric mental health facility. However, legislators have threatened to withhold the funds if the health system were to perform gender-affirming surgeries, according to the news station.
In a statement, OU Health said the facility was never intended for such procedures, and the health system's senior leadership is already planning to cease certain gender medicine services.
"[The ultimatum is] not cutting anybody out for services," Rep. Randy Randleman, PhD, a licensed psychologist, told the news station. "It’s saying we have such a need for behavior problems and families being dysfunctional that we want this individual money to be focused on that to get us back to where we should be."
OU Health did not immediately respond to Becker's request for comment.