By Dan Bartkowiak,
Pennsylvania has spent over $31 million in taxpayer funding to fund sex-rejecting drugs, procedures, and surgeries on children; nearly half of which was spent since Josh Shapiro took office as governor.
Right-to-know requests filed by the PA Family Institute with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services have revealed a dramatic spike in funding for these harmful procedures on children experiencing gender dysphoria, including surgical procedures to remove healthy body parts. What was once a small line item in the state budget has now ballooned into a multi-million-dollar annual expenditure — all funded by taxpayers.
In 2015, around 100 children were covered through PA Medical Assistance programs for “sex reassignment and transition-related services and drugs,” at a cost to taxpayers of $74,000. Ten years later, Pennsylvania is responsible for over 6,200 minors, from age 18 down to kindergarten, being prescribed these harmful drugs and procedures. In recent years, on average, Pennsylvania taxpayers have been funding these harmful drugs and procedures for over 2,000 children at the cost of over $5 million annually.
Since 2023, over $14 million has been spent on these types of procedures through Pennsylvania Medical Assistance.
In the last decade, state spending has increased more than 70-fold, reflecting a rapid expansion of these pediatric “sex reassignment” procedures across Pennsylvania.
The surge in spending parallels a dramatic rise in the number of children receiving these services. In 2015, 120 minors received taxpayer-funded drugs and procedures. By 2020, the number was up to over 1,100 recipients. In 2023, the number of children rose to over 2,200.
Even more alarming, some of these recipients include very young children. In 2023 alone, 133 of the children receiving these services were ages 6–12, and there was even evidence of children as young as kindergarten (age 5). The inclusion of such young minors raises serious ethical, medical, and developmental questions about the long-term consequences of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and other interventions.
These numbers tell a clear story: pediatric sex-rejecting services are not a rare exception; they have become a growing component of Pennsylvania’s publicly funded healthcare programs.
Alarming Increase in CHIP Funding
In 2017, when funding needed to be reauthorized for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), an amendment was put into the bill that would have prevented reimbursements for “sex reassignment surgery” or related drugs or procedures. Those provisions were stripped out of the final enacted legislation.
Since then, CHIP reimbursements covering these harmful procedures have rapidly increased. CHIP expenditures jumped from $15,535 in 2015 to over $1.1 million in 2024, accounting for over 20% of the total spent on these drugs and procedures that year ($5.4 million).
What was once a negligible cost to the overall problem has now become a major budget line item, adding to the problems linked to PA taxpayers.
Impact on Federal Funding
On November 19, 2025, the US Department of Health and Human Services released a comprehensive report on “treatments” given to children experiencing gender dysphoria. As HHS puts it, the report “finds that the harms from sex-rejecting procedures—including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical operations—are significant, long-term, and too often ignored or inadequately tracked.”
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring that the federal policy of the United States “will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so‑called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another.”The order defines a child as an individual under age 19 and mandates that federal agencies and institutions that receive federal research or education grants — including hospitals — must cease or amend policies that allow puberty blockers, cross‑sex hormones, or surgical procedures for minors.
PA hospitals like UPMC have publicly stated that they will no longer provide certain types of procedures, like hormone therapy and puberty blockers for individuals under 19, citing compliance concerns with federal guidance.
Do No Harm
There are now 25 states that have passed state laws protecting minors from harmful sex-rejecting procedures, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and mutilating surgeries.
The horrific experiences of girls like Chloe Cole are why the medical industry must put an end to these practices on children.
As John Stonestreet puts it, “Countless parents were asked whether they would prefer a dead son or a live daughter. Some states even removed kids from parents who would not conform. The HHS report reveals that it was the states, not the parents, that were abusive.”
PA State Senator Judy Ward has introduced the Do No Harm Act (Senate Bill 843), which would prohibit these types of procedures “that harm and mutilate children here in Pennsylvania. “A horrific trend is taking place, and our children are under attack,” states Sen. Ward.
Over 6,200 children. Over $31 million in taxpayer funding.
These figures should serve as a wake-up call. How many Pennsylvania children are going through a similar experience to Chloe Cole and are on the taxpayer’s dime? As Senator Ward told the Daily Wire, “It’s just a horrible, horrible thing, and we’re doing it to children,” Ward told The Daily Wire of the transgender procedures. “It is child abuse [in] every sense of the word.”
The bottom line: what began as a minor program a decade ago has become a significant fiscal and social issue in Pennsylvania. Lawmakers, healthcare professionals, and families alike must grapple with the realities of these growing numbers and costs — and ensure that children experiencing gender dysphoria, and their families, are given help, not harm.
Tell Harrisburg: Protect Kids. Pass the Do No Harm Act.
Your voice can help stop Pennsylvania from using taxpayer dollars to fund irreversible, sex-rejecting interventions on children. Contact your legislators today and urge them to support SB 843 and protect every child’s chance to grow up healthy and whole.
Daily Wire Highlights PA’s Taxpayer-Funded Harm to Children
National media is now reporting what our data uncovered: Pennsylvania continues to spend millions on sex-rejecting drugs and procedures for minors. The Daily Wire just published an in-depth report using our Right-to-Know findings, showing more than 6,200 Pennsylvania children have been placed on these harmful paths with over $31 million of taxpayer money. Their story exposes the alarming rise in funding, including CHIP dollars, and the urgent need for lawmakers to act. Read the Daily Wire story here.
