Families, medical providers, and activists are calling out UPMC for what they say is a deliberate and dangerous decision to end gender-affirming care for trans youth and to comply, silently, with a federal subpoena seeking the private medical records of over 700 trans patients.
The controversy will come to a head this Thursday, November 20, Trans Day of Remembrance, at a public vigil organized by Together 4 Trans Youth and ACT UP Pittsburgh. The event, held outside UPMC Children’s Hospital in Bloomfield, aims to expose what families describe as an “unseen emergency” for trans youth, whose access to medically necessary care has been quietly cut off with no clear answers from hospital leadership.
The conflict centers around UPMC’s decision to discontinue gender-affirming care following a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice, a subpoena that demands sensitive health records of hundreds of minors. Unlike peer institutions such as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Boston Children’s Hospital, which swiftly moved to block the subpoena in court, UPMC not only declined to fight it but also hired a former Trump DOJ attorney, Ira Karoll, to advise them, raising further alarm within the community.
“UPMC claims neutrality, but its decisions reflect politics, not patients,” said B Kleymeyer of ACT UP Pittsburgh. “When you hire a former Trump administration lawyer and have board
members who donated thousands to the Trump campaign, it’s fair to ask: is ideology, not medicine, driving UPMC’s choices for what medical care their patients can access? And whose care will be targeted next?”
In the wake of UPMC’s silence, a coalition of parents and providers, operating under the name Together 4 Trans Youth, delivered an open letter and a list of 11 urgent questions to UPMC and Children’s Hospital leadership. These questions demand transparency about why the health system failed to protect patient data, halted treatment with no plan for continuity of care, and issued gag orders to providers regarding the existence of the subpoena.
Families say the real harm is happening now. Youth who had previously been under the care of UPMC’s adolescent gender clinic are now without access to hormone therapy, puberty blockers, or even psychiatric safety plans that considered their gender identity. Some families report that trans youth in crisis have been hospitalized without access to their prescribed medications.
“My child’s dysphoria doesn’t go away just because UPMC stopped care; it shows up as self-harm,” said VM, a parent of a trans teen whose treatment was abruptly ended. “We trusted UPMC ‘to do no harm.’ Instead, they abandoned us when we needed them most.”
A pediatrician speaking anonymously echoed those fears, saying, “UPMC told us these vulnerable patients were being followed closely, but parents report lack of follow-up. As a physician, this endangers my license. As a human, it breaks my trust in this institution.”
The outcry has already triggered legal action. In September, two separate filings, one by the Women’s Law Project with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and another by the Public Interest Law Center in federal court, challenged UPMC’s actions and the legality of the subpoena. Still, UPMC has remained largely silent in public, offering no clear statement or justification.
The open letter from Together 4 Trans Youth, sent November 18, lays out specific demands, including reinstating care, protecting hospitalized youth’s access to medications, clarifying the role of federal authorities in care decisions, and explaining why the hospital continues to hide behind confidentiality claims that have been publicly refuted.
At the heart of the conflict is a question of trust. Trust that families say has been broken.
The letter asks, “How can patients trust UPMC decisions?”
The November 20 vigil, which begins at 6:00 p.m. at the Allegheny Cemetery entrance at Penn Ave and Edmond St., will center first-hand testimony from affected families and providers. Attendees are encouraged to bring candles, signs, and messages of solidarity. Organizers are also urging the public to send messages of support for trans youth to Governor Shapiro at
action.pavalues.org/pride.
Together 4 Trans Youth is advocating for Pennsylvania to become a shield state, safeguarding access to gender-affirming care for all.
As of publication, UPMC has not responded publicly to the letter or the upcoming protest.
