Act Up 4 Trans Justice and Pittsburgh Healthcare Workers and Scientists (PGHS) Statement on Lawsuit to Reinstate Gender Affirming Care

Governor Josh Shapiro, on behalf of the state of Pennsylvania, joined 15 other states, and Washington D.C., in filing a lawsuit on Friday August 1, 2025 to block the Trump Administration's federal investigations into medical providers who provide gender-affirming healthcare to youth and adults under 19 years old.

Despite the fact that gender-affirming care is legal and protected in Pennsylvania and in the city of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) chose to end gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth under the age of 19 as of June 30, 2025. Cisgender patients are still able to access this healthcare, furthering concerns for discriminatory practices. UPMC then ordered employees to preserve patient protected health information (PHI) from January 2020 forward, in response to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) subpoena, as it prepares to hand the Trump administration trans patients' confidential medical records and all documents and communication related to gender-affirming care and other "gender-related care."

UPMC Providers for Trans Justice and Pittsburgh Healthcare Workers and Scientists (PGHS) continue to demand that UPMC reinstate gender-affirming care immediately and indefinitely and protect our transgender patients and their healthcare providers. The following statement is attributable to both organizations in tandem:

UPMC's decisions act in de?ance of our state and city laws. No UPMC patients are safe when UPMC denies healthcare to a vulnerable population in response to baseless threats. No UPMC patients are safe when UPMC allows the federal government access to a vulnerable population's confidential and protected medical records. We appreciate our governor taking action in accordance with current law to protect our transgender youth and adults, and healthcare providers. Our governor's actions reinforce what we providers know to be true: there is no medical, moral, or legal justification for UPMC ending healthcare for trans youth and adults.

Gender-affirming care is legal and protected in Pennsylvania and in the city of Pittsburgh. The August 1, 2025 lawsuit asserts "no federal law prohibits, much less criminalizes, the provision or receipt of gender-affirming care for transgender adolescents." The lawsuit states that the DOJ issued subpoenas to 20 doctors and clinics across the country, including UPMC, demanding "private, confidential, and HIPAA-protected patient information" under the guise of "protecting" patients from "healthcare fraud, false statements, and more." Our governor and the other lawsuit plaintiffs assert the "intent in issuing the subpoenas is not enforcement of the specific prohibitions of those laws but the chilling of medical care with which the administration disagrees ideologically."

Since June 17, 2025, 460 UPMC providers and staff have signed an open letter opposing UPMC's decision and asking UPMC to reinstate this medically necessary healthcare.

Gender-affirming healthcare is supported by every major medical and behavioral health organization in the United States. The American Academy of Pediatrics asserts

"gender-affirming care is medically necessary for treating gender dysphoria and is backed by decades of peer-reviewed research, clinical experience, and scientific consensus." UPMC leadership is aware of the risks of ending healthcare for transgender youth and adults; leadership has told us, UPMC medical and mental healthcare providers, to expect a large in?ux of suicidal, depressed, dysphoric, and psychotic teenagers as a direct result of the discontinuation of care. We have already seen the impact on our patients.

We will not stand by and watch our patients suffer and die. We will not violate our responsibility to provide necessary, evidence-based care to our patients. We demand UPMC reinstate this legal, medically necessary healthcare now.

UPMC's legal team ordered staff to preserve all documents and communication related to gender-affirming care and other "gender-related care" dating back to January 2020 in preparation to comply with the DOJ's subpoena. UPMC has declined to offer any legal guidance beyond that, despite our inquiries. We fear how this data will be used by the Trump administration and the precedent this sets for all UPMC patients. We demand that UPMC use their immense financial and legal resources to motion to quash the DOJ subpoena and protect our patient's privacy.

UPMC providers will continue to fight for our transgender patients rights. We will continue to fight for the rights of all peoples who receive care at UPMC. We demand UPMC do the same.