The U.S. Department of Justice has subpoenaed more than 20 doctors and clinics that provide gender-affirming care to transgender minors.

As the Guardian reports, a July 9 DOJ press release did not identify the doctors and clinics that had been subpoenaed, nor did it specify the information the department was seeking. According to the release, the DOJ is investigating “healthcare fraud, false statements, and more.”

Related

Attorney General threatens doctors with 10 years in prison for providing gender-affirming care
She said she would prosecute it as “female genital mutilation,” not explaining how that would work.

The release included a statement from anti-LGBTQ+ Attorney General Pam Bondi mischaracterizing providers of trans healthcare as “medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology” and warning that they would be “held accountable by this Department of Justice.”

Never Miss a Beat

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

While gender-affirming care, which encompasses a range of both surgical and nonsurgical treatments, has been endorsed by every major American medical association and leading world health authority as evidence-based, safe, and in some cases lifesaving for transgender minors, surgical intervention is rarely performed on minors and is not recommended prior to puberty.

In fact, a 2024 study out of Harvard indicated that certain gender-affirming surgeries were more prevalent among cisgender patients than trans or gender diverse patients.

At an event held by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday, DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle said that the department had also subpoenaed major drug manufacturers as part of its investigation into the marketing of “drugs used in trans-related medical interventions,” STAT reports. According to the outlet, the event focused on the FTC’s authority to investigate trans healthcare, with many speakers characterizing the “marketing” of gender-affirming care to minors and parents as “deceptive.”

“The FTC cannot make policy decisions limiting sex transition treatments for minors,” FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak said, according to STAT. “What the FTC can and should do is protect children from deceptive statements regarding such treatments.”

The DOJ’s subpoenas come nearly three months after Bondi’s April memo instructing the department to investigate and prosecute cases of minors receiving gender-affirming care, which she mischaracterized as “female genital mutilation.” The memo also warned that the DOJ would go after “on- or off-label use of puberty blockers, sex hormones, or any other drug used to facilitate a child’s so-called ‘gender transition’” as a violation of consumer protection laws.

The memo followed a January executive order aimed at banning gender-affirming care. While the president does not have the authority to ban medical care, he ordered federal agencies to look for ways to limit access to gender-affirming care.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.