Parents of children who have received gender-affirming care at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia are joining a legal fight to stop President Donald Trump’s administration from obtaining their medical records under a federal subpoena.
Lawyers for the CHOP families on Monday filed a motion in federal court to limit the subpoena sent to the hospital by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in June. The families are arguing that patients have a constitutionally protected right to privacy.
The lawyers — with the Public Interest Law Center and Philadelphia-based firm Ballard Spahr — filed the motion on behalf of five parents with transgender children and one adult who received care at CHOP. The motion, which does not publicly identify the six clients by name, asks the judge to void, or quash, the parts of the subpoena related to all patient medical records and identifying information.
“We represent a small number of families, but the relief that we are seeking is broad,” said Mimi McKenzie, legal director of the Public Interest Law Center, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that advocates for the civil, social and economic rights of marginalized communities. “If the Constitution means anything, it means that the federal government can’t rifle through your child’s medical records to intimidate you.”
The legal action follows a similar motion filed in July by CHOP, which has asked a federal judge to limit the subpoena’s scope.
In its motion, CHOP accused the DOJ of unfairly targeting “a group of patients who have struggled with deeply personal issues concerning gender” and seeking information that would “reveal the most intimate, sensitive, and often painful details of their young lives.”
Both motions, now before U.S. District Court Judge Mark A. Kearney in Philadelphia, are part of a broader legal battle playing out across the country.
The DOJ has issued subpoenas to CHOP and at least 19 other hospitals nationally that treat transgender youth as part of an investigation into possible healthcare fraud or potential misconduct. The DOJ is targeting hospitals that treat patients under age 20 for gender dysphoria, a medical condition in which a person’s body does not match their gender identity.
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Boston ruled in favor of Boston Children’s Hospital and limited the DOJ subpoena, which U.S. District Court Judge Myong Joun described as too broad and politically motivated by an administration that “has been explicit about its disapproval of the transgender community.”
The Trump administration has said doctors who prescribe to children and teens medications commonly used for gender-affirming care, such as puberty blockers and hormones, are engaging in chemical mutilation, likening it to child abuse. Teenagers are not mature enough to make such major decisions, the administrations has argued.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and other major medical associations, citing research, widely accept such use of these medications as safe, effective, and medically necessary for the patients’ mental health. In legal filings, CHOP says its doctors do not prescribe any medication before its patients undergo extensive medical and psychological evaluations.
The DOJ subpoena seeks the names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and addresses and parent/guardian information on hundreds of patients, dating back to 2020, treated at the hospital’s nationally prominent Gender and Sexuality Development Program.
The subpoena also seeks documents related to how doctors make decisions in prescribing medications that help patients to have a body that matches their gender identity, including “diagnoses” or “assessments.”
The DOJ did not immediately respond on Thursday to a request for comment.
The judge set an October 6 deadline for the DOJ to respond to the motion.
