AG Bondi issued memo directing FBI and DOJ to investigate and prosecute gender-affirming care providers for minors

On April 22, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a memorandum titled "Preventing the Mutilation of American Children" to DOJ component heads, directing a government-wide enforcement campaign against healthcare providers offering gender-affirming care for minors. The memo instructed the FBI to investigate providers for potential criminal violations; directed the Consumer Protection Branch to pursue FDA misbranding cases against manufacturers and distributors of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones; and ordered the Civil Division Fraud Section to investigate False Claims Act violations against medical providers submitting claims to federal healthcare programs. The memo also directed DOJ to draft legislation creating a federal private right of action enabling patients to sue providers retroactively.

At the time the memo was issued, gender-affirming care for minors — including puberty blockers and hormonal treatments — was legal under federal law and recognized as standard-of-care medicine by major medical bodies including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association. The FDA-approved medications targeted in the misbranding directive were prescribed in accordance with existing clinical guidelines. Snell & Wilmer noted the memo "puts medical practitioners, hospitals, and clinics on notice."

The memo also announced the "Attorney General's Coalition Against Child Mutilation," a formal partnership with state attorneys general to share intelligence and coordinate criminal and civil enforcement cases against hospitals and practitioners. The directive converted the FBI, the Consumer Protection Branch, the Civil Division Fraud Section, and state AG offices into a coordinated apparatus targeting gender-affirming care — deploying the federal prosecution machinery against medical providers serving transgender minors.