Children’s Hospital Colorado, the state’s largest pediatric specialty hospital, has received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice as part of an apparent investigation into gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
The hospital received the subpoena this week. It did not disclose the contents or say whether the subpoena seeks patient records.
“We are engaging outside counsel and evaluating it to determine how we should respond,” the hospital wrote in a statement Thursday.
The subpoena comes one month after Fox News, citing an anonymous source, reported that the DOJ had opened an investigation into three children’s hospitals across the country, including Children’s Hospital Colorado. The others were Boston Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
The investigation reportedly is looking at gender-affirming surgeries to kids under the age of 18, which the administration of President Donald Trump has suggested could be prosecuted as illegal female genital mutilation.
Fox reported that the DOJ investigation stems from a memo U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued earlier this year instructing prosecutors to use a federal law against female genital mutilation — or FGM, in the memo’s terminology — to investigate medical providers offering gender-affirming surgeries.
“I am directing all U.S. Attorneys to investigate all suspected cases of FGM — under the banner of so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ or otherwise — and to prosecute all FGM offenses to the fullest extent possible,” the memo stated, as reported by Fox.
The federal law banning female genital mutilation dates back to 1996, and the debate over it in Congress focused primarily on people from other countries who had brought the practice to the United States. The law contains a detailed definition of what constitutes illegal genital mutilation and also contains an exemption if a surgery is “necessary to the health of the person on whom it is performed.”
There are numerous different types of gender-affirming surgeries, and many do not involve changes to the genitals.
In a statement to The Sun last week, Children’s said it has never provided gender-affirming surgeries to patients under the age of 18. It stopped offering such surgeries to patients 18 and older in 2023. The hospital continued to provide non-surgical care.
The subpoena adds to the pressure Children’s and other pediatric hospitals face over gender-affirming care.
Children’s Hospital Colorado was among the nine hospitals that in May received a letter from federal health authorities asking for financial information and other details related to gender-affirming care. Children’s said it provided a response to that request but did not elaborate.
Children’s was one of three Colorado health systems — Denver Health and UCHealth were the others — that shut down most gender-affirming care for trans youth in January, when the Trump administration announced it would pull federal funding from hospitals that provided such care. Children’s and Denver Health started their care back up in February after a federal judge blocked the order.
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Like Children’s, Denver Heath does not provide gender-affirming surgeries to youth. Both hospitals’ care consists of providing hormone therapies, treatments that block the onset of puberty, counseling and other supportive care. UCHealth previously provided care only to patients 18 and older. Earlier this year, it changed the age cutoff to 19 and older.
Denver Health said it had not been contacted by the DOJ.
In its statement Thursday, Children’s said it has not made changes to the care it offers as a result of the new subpoena.
“We believe families know what is best for their child and should have the right to access expert medical care to support their child’s well-being, including gender-diverse youth,” the hospital’s statement read. “There is no change to our care model at this time.”