U.S. Bishops Anti-Trans Hospital Rules Will Have Outsized Effect in Oregon

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ new anti-trans healthcare directives may have an outsized impact in one state where 30% of hospitals are Catholic. 

The healthcare system in Oregon, a state where the percentage of Catholic hospitals is higher than the percentage of actual Catholics, is assessing how to handle the new “Ethical and Religious Directives” published in November, which forbid all health interventions related to gender transition, even forbidding the referral of a transgender patient for gender affirming care, according to the Lund Report. 

Local bishops are responsible for how the guidelines will be applied to the Catholic hospitals in their dioceses. Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon has a record of anti-LGBTQ+ remarks and actions, and neither he nor the archdiocese responded to the Lund Report’s request for comment. 

However the state’s largest Catholic health network, Providence Health & Services ,told the Lund Report that as of yet “no clinical practices are being altered as a result of the revisions while we study the amendments to understand the changes and their impacts.” The organization went on to emphasize its compliance with legal non-discrimination requirements, and explicitly acknowledged the systemic and social threats to transgender people:

“In line with state and federal laws — and as called for in our Mission and values — we do not discriminate in the provision of health care services to anyone. We seek to provide to all persons a respectful, welcoming place of care and to bring healing to the communities we serve. This includes members of the transgender community, who we know are subject to greater risk of suicide, homelessness, harassment, bullying and acts of violence.” 

The Lund Report cited research showing that there are an estimated 23,000 transgender people in Oregon, with 3,000 of them being minors. While Oregon does have a “shield law” that “expressly ensures coverage of all medically necessary gender-affirming care services” in commercial insurance, the state’s medicaid plan, and public employee health plans, there is still likely to be an impact felt from the USCBB’s guidelines. 

Blair Stenvick of Basic Rights Oregon, a statewide LGBTQ+ equality advocacy group, told the Lund Report that due to the prevalence of Catholic hospitals and the unaffordability of healthcare more generally, the new guidelines are likely to be a major obstacle to gender-affirming care for transgender Oregonians:

“Many Oregonians don’t have a choice of where they receive medical care — that is dictated by where they live and what their insurance plan is. Oregon state law still requires all in-state insurers to cover gender-affirming care for transgender folks. That said, many trans Oregonians already travel hundreds of miles for affordable healthcare, and banning this care in Catholic health systems will make accessing it even more difficult, especially for rural and low-income Oregonians.”

At the time of their release, New Ways Ministry issued a statement condemning the guidelines as neither “ethical” nor “religious.” Executive Director Francis DeBernardo wrote that the directives would “harm, not benefit transgender persons,” adding that “it is embarrassing, even shameful, that the bishops failed to consult transgender people, who have found that gender-affirming medical care has enhanced their lives and their relationship with God.”

—Jeromiah Taylor, New Ways Ministry, December 10, 2025