PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A federal court recently rejected the U.S. Department of State’s subpoena seeking sensitive information of patients receiving gender-affirming care at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Transgender rights advocates have called the decision a victory.
In June, the Trump administration sought the names, addresses, medical records and social security numbers of every patient who received gender-affirming care at CHOP.
The hospital, the Public Interest Law Center and law firm Ballard Spahr LLP filed motions to quash the subpoena. A district court judge ruled against it on Friday.
“It's a win for the patients and their families,” said attorney Jill Steinberg with Ballard Spahr, who advocated on the behalf of the patients and their parents. She called the subpoena an apparent effort to eliminate gender-affirming care across the country.
"The court properly concluded that … the patients’ privacy interests outweighed the interests of the government and that the government might have been motivated by factors other than criminal investigative activity."
The court's ruling in Pennsylvania followed similar federal court decisions in Massachusetts and Washington.