The Department of Justice on Wednesday announced it issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics suspected of performing transgender “medical procedures” on minors, part of a sweeping investigation into what the department described as deceptive and potentially criminal practices in the medical industry.
The announcement came the same day the Federal Trade Commission held a Washington, D.C. workshop focused on the “Dangers of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ For Minors”. DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle also confirmed the Trump administration is preparing draft legislation and “working with Congress” on existing criminal laws related to “female genital mutilation to more robustly protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation.”
“Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement confirming the subpoenas. The department said it is investigating violations, including healthcare fraud and false statements, though it did not name the clinics or doctors in its brief press release.
The subpoenas mark a new phase in the Trump administration’s broader push to end the promotion and subsidization of transgender surgeries for minors. Within days of taking office in January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring that the federal government would no longer “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another.”
While the DOJ pursues legal accountability, the Federal Trade Commission is weighing whether certain practices in the gender medicine industry violate consumer protection laws. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said Tuesday the agency will issue a public request for information next week, giving the public 60 days to weigh in.
Ferguson said the agency is examining whether medical professionals or institutions have misrepresented the benefits and downplayed the risks of transgender procedures for minors, something the FTC views as squarely within its mandate.
“Experience has taught us that the more vulnerable the population, the more likely they are to be targeted with deception,” Ferguson said at the workshop. “Refusing to investigate these health claims merely because one political party supports them would be to politicize choice.”
A counter-event hosted by Public Knowledge and LGBT Tech is scheduled for Thursday, featuring former FTC commissioners and medical professionals who support transgender youth procedures, according to Bloomberg. The event is intended to challenge the conclusions presented at the FTC workshop and defend access to transgender services broadly.
While the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association continue to defend transgender procedures for minors as medically necessary, critics argue the operations are experimental, irreversible, and often performed on children unable to provide informed consent.
Medical advocacy group Do No Harm welcomed the DOJ’s move, calling it a necessary step to hold clinics and providers accountable. Chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb said the medical field must stop prioritizing identity politics and return to evidence-based standards of care for children.
“The medical profession should stop prioritizing identity politics over patients and focus instead on providing high-quality, evidence-based care,” DNH chairman Stanley Goldfarb, MD, told the Washington Examiner. “The news that they have issued 20 subpoenas shows just how seriously they’re taking this charge to hold hospitals, clinics, associations, and providers accountable.”
DOJ SUES CALIFORNIA OVER TRANSGENDER ATHLETES POLICIES
The announcement also comes the same day the DOJ filed a lawsuit against California over its policies allowing males to play in female sports, which the department has argued flies in the face of Title IX protections against sex-based discrimination because the policy doesn’t grant women their own exclusive sex-segregated sports.
The Supreme Court last month decided a landmark case allowing states to impose laws preventing minors from undergoing transgender procedures. It is slated to hear arguments in its next term on whether states can impose laws restricting boys from playing on girls’ school sports teams.
