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U.S. AG Pam Bondi
The Justice Department said that its investigations center on allegations of health care fraud and false statements related to gender-affirming medical care.
The Trump administration’s escalating campaign against transgender people’s place in U.S. society surged forward Wednesday as Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Department of Justice has issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics involved in providing gender-affirming care to minors.
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Bondi made the announcement without releasing further details about the targets of the subpoenas or any potential charges. “Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice,” Bondi said in a statement.
Related: Trump signs executive order banning federal support of gender-affirming care for anyone under 19
The move comes less than three months after Bondi issued an internal DOJ memorandum directing federal prosecutors and civil divisions to investigate providers of gender-affirming care under a sweeping range of laws, including the federal ban on female genital mutilation and the False Claims Act. Bondi warned of a “radical ideological agenda being pushed throughout every aspect of American life.” In the memo, Bondi described gender-affirming care as “chemical and surgical mutilation,” echoing the inflammatory rhetoric that has become central to Trump administration policy.
That April memo implements Trump’s executive order, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” parts of which have already been blocked by federal courts.
A former DOJ official familiar with internal department processes, speaking to The Advocate, said the decision to announce a series of subpoenas related to gender-affirming care is “highly unusual.” The official explained that publicly discussing investigative steps at such an early stage breaks with DOJ norms, designed to shield investigations from political influence and protect civil liberties. The Department of Justice’s practice is not to speak about these things publicly, they said, adding that typically, details emerge only through court filings once charges are brought.
The former official described the subpoenas as part of a broader pattern in which the White House appears deeply involved in DOJ decision-making under Trump, a level of political interference reminiscent of pre-Watergate practices. They warned that publicly disclosing investigations or subpoenas threatens to harm individuals and institutions even if no charges are ultimately filed, saying, “You want a world in which the FBI and DOJ can perform investigations where they have leads that need to be run down, but that it is not at the expense of the individual liberties of those people who are being targeted.”
Bondi’s announcement landed on the same day the Federal Trade Commission hosted a workshop that LGBTQ+ advocates blasted as “a government-sponsored disinformation campaign.” The event featured a slate of anti-trans activists and medical professionals who oppose gender-affirming care, with FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson describing such treatments as “modern snake oil” and accusing providers of deceiving families.
Related: BREAKING: Federal judge blocks Trump’s gender-affirming care ban for minors
The intense federal scrutiny comes just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Skrmetti, which upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors. Legal experts warn the ruling threatens to open the door for states to ban care for trans adults as well. Leah Litman, a constitutional law professor at the University of Michigan and co-host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast, told The Advocate that the Court’s conservative majority is laying the groundwork for even broader restrictions.
A former senior DOJ official who served in the Biden administration told The Advocate that Congress has the power to investigate all of these actions. “Under the Constitution, Congress has not just the right but the obligation to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. It has the obligation to have its own view of the constitutionality of the actions of the Executive Branch, the compliance with statutory limitations, the propriety of the actions of agencies like the Department of Justice,” the said.
All major medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the Endocrine Society, and the American Psychiatric Association, support gender-affirming care for minors as evidence-based, effective, and safe when delivered under the supervision of qualified physicians. Decades of research show that such care, which may include social support, puberty blockers, hormones, or in some cases surgery, improves mental health outcomes and reduces rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide among transgender youth.
Related: Trump HHS posts ‘so-called report’ pushing conversion therapy for trans kids
Recent research published in JAMA Pediatrics has shown that fewer than 0.1 percent of U.S. adolescents receive gender-affirming medications. The study, based on insurance data from more than 5 million youth between 2018 and 2022, found that only 926 adolescents were prescribed puberty blockers, and about 1,927 received hormones. “We are not seeing inappropriate use of this sort of care,” said Landon Hughes, lead author and Harvard public health researcher, in comments to PBS NewsHour. “And it’s certainly not happening at the rate at which people often think it is.”
Researchers found that no patients under the age of 12 were prescribed hormones, in line with the medical community’s cautious approach. Dr. Scott Leibowitz, co-lead author of adolescent care standards for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, told PBS that the findings “add to the growing evidence base about best practices when serving transgender and gender diverse youth.”
Related: FTC hosts anti-trans workshop LGBTQ+ advocates call ‘government-sponsored disinformation’
Dr. Rachel Levine, former assistant secretary for health in the Biden administration and the highest-ranking out transgender federal official in U.S. history, told The Advocate that Wednesday’s events reflect the coordinated anti-trans playbook being advanced by conservative groups. “This has been made a political and ideological issue,” Levine said. “The evidence base is strong for the safety and efficacy of these treatments, while also recognizing that, like all areas of medicine, research should continue to evolve.”
The Justice Department said Wednesday that its investigations center on allegations of health care fraud and false statements related to gender-affirming medical care.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.
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