The Trump administration has strong-armed the University of Michigan’s statewide hospital system over its provision of transgender health care services for minors, sending a subpoena in recent weeks to University of Michigan Health, TPM has learned.
The investigation has prompted the university to suspend gender-affirming care at its hospitals for those under 19, the university told TPM in an exclusive statement.
“The University of Michigan, including Michigan Medicine, is one of multiple institutions across the country that has received a federal subpoena as part of a criminal and civil investigation into gender-affirming care for minors,” the statement reads. “In light of that investigation, and given escalating external threats and risks, we will no longer provide gender affirming hormonal therapies and puberty blocker medications for minors.”
For the Trump administration, University of Michigan Health’s decision is a win. In this case, federal officials have used the prospect of a lengthy civil or criminal investigation to pressure the hospital system.
One source familiar with the university’s decision-making told TPM that University of Michigan Health’s leadership interpreted the subpoena as a threat that could portend criminal prosecution. Per the source, individual doctors received a hold order not to destroy documents.
The demand came in the form of an administrative subpoena, per the source. The demand is similar to a subpoena received by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and entered as an exhibit into a lawsuit earlier this month, the source said.
The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.
Per an internal university memo obtained by TPM, University of Michigan Health first received a subpoena on July 14 that indicated the DOJ was pursuing a civil and criminal investigation.
DOJ attorneys had indicated they were investigating the doctors on suspicion of abusing their authority to prescribe medication, among other potential charges, the source said. The source said that those at the University of Michigan Health system had heard for a few weeks that they were next in line.
“We recognize the gravity and impact of this decision for our patients and our community. We are working closely with all those impacted, and we will continuously support the well-being of our patients, their families, and our teams,” the hospital system added in its statement to TPM. “We are deeply grateful to our clinicians for their unyielding commitment to providing the highest quality care, and to all of our team members for their dedication to helping our patients, and to supporting each other, as we navigate these changes together.”
The targeting of the health system appears to be part of a broader salvo from the Trump administration, as it takes further steps to threaten hospitals into backing away from providing gender-affirming care.
The FBI posted a tipline on X in early June, seeking names of “any hospitals, clinics, or practitioners” “mutilating children under the guise of gender-affirming care.”
Trump’s DOJ announced on July 9 that it had sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics “involved in performing transgender medical procedures on children.” University of Michigan Health received its subpoena a few days later.