Trump administration abandons legal appeal for trans kids’ medical records

The Trump administration is abandoning its effort to obtain sensitive medical records from transgender young people who received gender-affirming care at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, bringing one of its most aggressive legal fights over such care closer to an end.Justice Department attorneys asked the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday to voluntarily dismiss the government’s appeal of lower-court rulings that blocked subpoenas seeking patient information. The families who challenged the subpoenas do not oppose the request. The Justice Department did not explain why it was dropping the case.The filing is remarkably brief. In just one paragraph of substantive argument, government attorneys asked the court to dismiss the consolidated appeal and have each side cover its own costs. The appeals court must still approve the request before the case is formally dismissed.Rather than continue trying to revive subpoenas that a federal judge sharply rejected, the administration is walking away.Related: Pennsylvania families fight Trump Justice Department subpoenas for their trans kids’ private medical records“The children we represented, their families, and all minor patients from UPMC’s gender-affirming care clinic can now rest easy that their personal information will not be exposed to a hostile administration,” Mimi McKenzie, legal director of the Public Interest Law Center, said in a statement to The Advocate on Monday.The dispute was part of a wider Trump administration campaign to use federal investigative powers against hospitals and doctors providing gender-affirming care to minors.As The Advocate previously reported, Pennsylvania families went to court after the Justice Department sought extensive information involving young patients, including medical records, intake documents, consent forms and parental authorizations connected with puberty blockers and hormone therapy.A federal judge ultimately blocked the government from obtaining th