2026 Advocacy Activities
The Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine is pleased to partner with various groups in advocating for the health and well-being of adolescents. Below is a list of advocacy and sign-on activities that SAHM has undertaken in the current year.
February
- SAHM submits its own comments and signs on to coalition comments in response to proposed HHS rules that, if adopted, would deny transgender and gender-diverse youth access to medically necessary, evidence-based care by requiring children’s hospitals to cease such care and by eliminating Medicaid and CHIP coverage for gender-affirming medical services for individuals 19 and younger.
- Signatory to Amicus Brief: Flores v. Bondi (United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit). The brief argues that the Administration’s effort to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement ignores decades of research, expert guidance, and legal precedent protecting immigrant children. The FSA requires humane treatment, least restrictive placement, and prompt release to reduce harm. Ending it would lead to longer, harsher detention of vulnerable children and is not in their best interests.
- SAHM endorses the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Immunization Schedule
- SAHM submits its own comments and signs on to coalition comments in response to proposed HHS rules that, if adopted, would deny transgender and gender-diverse youth access to medically necessary, evidence-based care by requiring children’s hospitals to cease such care and by eliminating Medicaid and CHIP coverage for gender-affirming medical services for individuals 19 and younger.
January
- SAHM joined a coalition of national organizations led by the American Academy of Pediatrics urging congressional leadership to take swift and robust oversight of recent changes to the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule announced on January 5, 2026. Prompt action is needed to protect vaccine availability and ensure continued coverage for all previously recommended immunizations.
- Signatory to Amicus Brief: Lighthiser v. Trump (The United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit). The amicus brief highlights how the challenged Executive Orders worsen climate change and air pollution, causing serious, lifelong health harms for children and youth. It emphasizes that these impacts, especially respiratory and heat-related illnesses, are ongoing, disproportionate, and preventable, and that blocking the Executive Orders would help reduce these harms.
- Signatory to Amicus Brief: Moe v. Yost (Ohio Supreme Court). This amicus brief affirms the medical consensus on gender identity and gender dysphoria, explains that gender-affirming medical care (GAMC) guidelines are evidence-based and developed using established clinical standards, refutes inaccurate claims supporting the Healthcare Ban, and describes the irreparable harm the ban would cause by denying adolescents medically necessary care and undermining clinical judgment and patient-family decision-making.
- SAHM joined a coalition of national organizations led by the American Academy of Pediatrics urging congressional leadership to take swift and robust oversight of recent changes to the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule announced on January 5, 2026. Prompt action is needed to protect vaccine availability and ensure continued coverage for all previously recommended immunizations.