The Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued subpoenas to medical providers who offer gender-affirming care to transgender youth, demanding that they provide private information on their young patients. The subpoenas demand billing documents, communication with drug manufacturers, patients Social Security numbers, addresses, emails, Zoom recordings, voicemails, encrypted text messages, as well as every writing or record of whatever type doctors have made from January 2020 to the current day, The Washington Post reported.While Attorney General Pam Bondi admitted last month to sending 20 subpoenas to hold medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology accountable, she didnt specify which organizations and individuals received the subpoenas. Anonymous informants told the aforementioned publication that some of the subpoena recipients (who got the subpoenas in June) operate in states with laws protecting gender-affirming care for youth. One trans civil rights activist called the incident an unprecedented and disgusting violation of medical privacy. Related Hospitals are ending their trans youth programs at an accelerating rate [The government] is using its investigative powers to target medical providers based on a disagreement about medical treatment rather than violations of the law, Jacob T. Elberg, a former federal prosecutor specializing in health care fraud, told The Washington Post. He added that the DOJ must show that the information it demanded is relevant to a legitimate law enforcement probe.The publication contacted numerous clinics and professionals offering gender-affirming care for youth, but none would say whether they had received a subpoena, citing fears of violent threats or government retaliation. Other hospitals have been closing their trans youth clinics and erasing any mention of gender-affirming care from their web pages to avoid federal threats to cut funding or pursue prosecutorial charges. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The subpoena is a breathtakingly invasive government overreach, said Jennifer L. Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at the LGBTQ+ legal advocacy group GLAD Law. Its specifically and strategically designed to intimidate health care providers and health care institutions into abandoning their patients.Fewer than 3,000 teens nationwide receive puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy,according to a 2025 JAMA analysisof private insurance data,The Post noted. Responding to the news, transgender civil rights lawyer Alejandra Caraballo wrote via Bluesky, This is an unprecedented and disgusting violation of medical privacy, adding, The fact that no lawsuit has been commenced challenging these subpoenas in court is ominous. My best guess is that many of the providers have complied and now DOJ is potentially sitting on the records of thousands of trans youth covering everything from therapy notes to pre- and post-op photos.Though there is no federal law banning gender-affirming care, the current presidential administration has sought to eradicate the practice through a January executive order (that has since been blocked by several courts). The order instructed the DOJ to extend the time that patients and parents can sue gender-affirming doctors and to use laws against false advertising to prosecute any entity that may be misleading the public about the long-term effects of gender-affirming care.In April, Bondi issued a memo to DOJ employees, telling them to investigate and prosecute cases of minors accessing gender-affirming care as female genital mutilation (FGM); even though hospitals dont conduct such female genital surgeries. The memo threatened to jail doctors for 10 years if they provide gender-affirming care to young people. Gender-affirming care is supported by all major medical associations in the U.S., including the American Medical Association, the Endocrine Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, as safe and life-saving for young people with gender dysphoria.One doctor interviewed by The Washington Post called the federal governments crusade against gender-affirming care a toxic plan that will force some patients to detransition, potentially forcing them into adverse psychological and physical effects, including increased anxiety, depression, and the development of unwanted physical changes.This goes way beyond any degree of moral or ethical dilemma that any of us have ever experienced, the doctor said. It is completely scientifically and medically unfounded.Republican attorneys general in Texas and Tennessee have demanded similar patient information from providers of youth-centered gender-affirming care outside of their states, but they dropped their demands after courts blocked their efforts.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.