Major PA Hospitals Sued for Stopping "GAC" for Minors
Two nonprofits and two law firms represent parents and former patients.
This week, several Pennsylvania publications reported that parents and former patients are suing University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for complying with President Trump’s Executive Order banning “gender affirming care” (“GAC”) for minors.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that:
Five teens and children who say they were forced off of [sic] their gender-affirming care treatment plans when UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh ceased such treatment for those 18 and younger earlier this year filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, alleging the denial amounts to sex- and disability-based discrimination.
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The health care provider had already curtailed such treatments months earlier after President Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting gender care for anyone under 19, though UPMC initially grandfathered in [sic] young patients with existing prescriptions. A June [2025] Supreme Court decision [Skrmetti] upholding a Tennessee ban on care for minors prompted UPMC to stop offering certain services altogether.
As usual, the Post-Gazette’s coverage is extremely biased. It fails to mention the Cass Report, the HHS Report, or any opposition to “GAC” for minors. Also as usual, the Post-Gazette disabled online comments on the story.
Women's Law Project and the Philadelphia law firm of Berger Montague represent the plaintiffs. Women’s Law Project provides a helpful summary of the case, but Your Author was unable to find any information about the case on Berger Montague’s website at this writing.
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review also covered the case, reporting:
The same treatments [puberty blockers and hormones] are still being offered to cisgender [sic] youth, the Women’s Law Project said in a news release.
“The complaint asserts that UPMC Children’s Hospital’s actions discriminate against transgender patients under the age of 19 based on their sex, which includes gender identity and expression under state law,” Women’s Law Project attorney Elizabeth Lester-Abdalla said. The complaint — which is sealed and confidential — also alleges discrimination based on disability, as UPMC is denying care to patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria, Lester-Abdalla said. [Emphasis added.]
Pittsburgh’s NPR affiliate WESA also covered the lawsuit. Like the Post-Gazette, both WESA and the Tribune-Review had extremely biased coverage.
The Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported that:
The Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia filed motions Monday to quash subpoenas served on the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in June.
They’re among more than 20 doctors and clinics across the country that provided transgender health care that have received demands for sensitive medical records and personal information from the DOJ [US Department of Justice]. The filings by the law center were made on behalf of four patients of UPMC and five CHOP patients and their families.
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The subpoenas request billing records, consent forms, information on the use of puberty blockers and hormones, use of billing codes in connection with gender affirming care, reports of adverse events, doctors’ notes and recordings[,] and patient identifying information for minors who received gender affirming care, including [S]ocial [S]ecurity numbers and home addresses.
The Public Interest Law Center has this complaint prominently on its home page. Your Author did not find any information about the complaint on the website of Philadelphia law firm Ballard Spahr, although the firm represents the plaintiffs pro bono. The Capital-Star reports that a similar subpoena was denied in Massachusetts.
Your author could not find any reporting of this complaint at Philadelphia NPR affiliate WHYY at this writing. The Philadelphia Inquirer has several stories, but they are all paywalled.
Your Author is not a lawyer, nor does she play one on TV or online, but at this writing, it appears that the lawyers for the UPMC plaintiffs are using the sex-discrimination argument that SCOTUS rejected in Skrmetti. While “GAC” is legal in Pennsylvania, our Commonwealth does NOT protect lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB), or transgender-identifying (TQ+) residents from discrimination in state law. However, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission unilaterally — that is, without the General Assembly’s approval — added LGBTQIA+ as a protected category. In fact, PA SB 150 would add sexual orientation and “gender identity or expression” to PA’s antidiscrimination laws since LGBTQ+ are not in them. Another bill, HB 1571, would elect, not appoint, Human Relations Commissioners. If any readers are legal professionals, please let PA4SBR know in the comments if this information is correct.
And please let PA4SBR know in the comments if any other PA hospitals face lawsuits because of “GAC” for minors.
We all need beauty in our lives. Here are two beautiful astronomical lagniappes. The first is a timelapse of the September 7, 2025, Blood Moon total lunar eclipse over Egypt:
And here is the partial solar eclipse over New Zealand from September 21, 2025:
