People holding transgender pride flags. (Photo: Vladimir Vladimirov/Getty Images)
Families of children who received gender-affirming care at two Pennsylvania hospitals are fighting efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice to obtain medical records and personal information about transgender youth.
The Philadelphia Public Interest Law Center at the Ballard Spahr law firm filed motions on Monday to quash subpoenas served in June on the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
They are among more than 20 doctors and clinics across the country providing health care to transgender people who have received a request from the Justice Department for sensitive medical records and personal information. The claims filed by the law center and Ballard were filed on behalf of four UPMC and five CHOP patients and their families.
Public Interest Law Center legal director Mimi McKenzie said the Trump administration’s characterization of gender-affirming care as “mutilation” and child abuse has struck fear in many families with transgender children.
“Parents and patients are very concerned about having their identities revealed to the Department of Justice and the world in the current political and social climate,” McKenzie said.
In its documents, the law center notes that a federal judge in Massachusetts granted the request by Boston Children’s Hospital to quash an identical subpoena earlier this month. U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun found that the subpoena was improperly issued and interfered with the right to gender-affirming care in Massachusetts.
Gov. Josh Shapiro has joined a federal lawsuit led by Massachusetts and more than a dozen other Democrat-led states challenging President Donald Trump’s executive orders and regulations that “unlawfully targeted transgender people.”
CHOP and UPMC patients note in their filings that gender-affirming care remains legal in Pennsylvania, although reports by the Human Rights Campaign 27 states they banned such treatment. Although American medical associations generally support gender-affirming care, some European countries are taking a a more cautious approachprioritizing psychological support and limiting some treatments for minors.
The summons request billing records, consent forms, information on the utilize of puberty blockers and hormones, the utilize of billing codes in connection with gender-affirming care, adverse event reports, physician notes and recordings, and patient identifying information for minors receiving gender-affirming care, including Social Security numbers and home addresses.
They followed a memo from Deputy Attorney General Brett A. Shumate directing the Justice Department’s Civil Division to prioritize investigations to implement executive orders issued on Trump’s inauguration day changing federal policies recognizing transgender people and health care.
The orders directed Attorney General Pam Bondi, among other things, to investigate “consumer deception, fraud, and violations of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by any entity that may mislead the public” about the long-term side effects of gender-affirming care, which the order describes as “chemical and surgical mutilation.”
McKenzie said the Justice Department’s stated intent is to investigate providers for potential violations of federal law regarding off-label utilize of hormones and puberty blockers. The department is also investigating whether providers violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims to federal health care programs for “noncovered services related to radical gender experimentation.”
“What’s happening here is that the Trump administration is weaponizing the Department of Justice to threaten providers and intimidate families in an attempt to end this very important care for transgender youth,” McKenzie said.
If you are increasingly enjoying our coverage, please consider making a donation to strengthen our independent, nonprofit newsroom.
CHOP continues to provide gender-affirming care through the Gender and Sexuality Development Program. However, UPMC has stopped certain gender-affirming activities due to the Trump administration’s memos, directives and calls.
“These actions have clearly demonstrated that our clinicians can no longer provide certain types of gender-affirming care without risk of criminal prosecution. This includes specific restrictions on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for individuals under 19 years of age,” a UPMC spokesperson said in a statement.
The hospital continues to provide necessary behavioral health support and other care “within the limits of the law” while maintaining physician-patient confidentiality.
“We express deep empathy for the patients and families affected by these ongoing changes,” the statement read.
CHOP did not respond to Capital-Star’s request for comment on Thursday. The hospital has been fighting a subpoena since July accusing the Justice Department of targeting “patients who struggle with deeply personal gender issues and who have been victims of harassment and discrimination.”
A Justice Department spokesman said in a statement that Bondi and the Justice Department will utilize all available legal and enforcement tools to protect innocent children, calling gender-sensitive care “mutilation.”
McKenzie stated that target records In subpoena are the most sensitive any person can have and are protected by the constitutional right to privacy. This includes information about patients’ mental, reproductive and sexual health. To violate that privacy, the government must have a compelling reason, which the law center says it doesn’t have.
“If the Constitution means anything, it means that the federal government cannot review your child’s medical records in order to intimidate you,” McKenzie said.
Documents filed by the law center on behalf of the families also show that the Justice Department’s conclusions are “extraordinarily broad” (as the Massachusetts judge also noted) and represent a “thinly disguised political agenda to seek the crime of health care fraud” — all without providing a compelling reason for violating patient privacy.
The court doesn’t have to read the subtext “because animus is official policy,” the law center argues.
“The administration asserted that transgender citizens cannot lead an ‘honorable, true and disciplined lifestyle’ and that their treatment is part of a ‘distorted ideology’ and ‘evil and backward lies’ that cause ‘sexual mutilation,'” the documents read.
(This article was updated at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, September 26, 2025 to include Ballard Spahr as co-counsel for patient submissions.)
Get our top stories delivered straight to your inbox every morning. Sign up now for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star Morning Guide.
