Major medical groups want the feds to investigate threats against CHOP and other hospitals that care for trans youth

Three major medical associations are urging the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate recent threats of violence against children’s hospitals that provide care to transgender children.

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Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is among several hospitals nationwide that have been targeted by conservative social media influencers. In recent weeks, accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers have posted clips from lectures in which CHOP providers discuss gender-affirming care for youth. In a recent example, the posts characterize the work as unethical and accuse a doctor of preying on vulnerable children for the sake of research.

In response, CHOP received threats against its Gender & Sexuality Development Clinic, according to a statement from the hospital. CHOP didn’t elaborate on the nature of the threats.

“As a result, we have taken a series of security and other measures both to ensure the safety of our staff and to safeguard the resources our patients and families need for quality care,” a spokesperson for the hospital said in an email.

On Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the Children’s Hospital Association made their request in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“We write to urge you to investigate the organizations, individuals, and entities coordinating, provoking, and carrying out bomb threats and threats of personal violence against children’s hospitals and physicians across the U.S.,” the letter read.

The associations, which the letter said represent more than 270,000 physicians and more than 220 children’s hospitals across the country, have also urged tech companies to do more about the proliferation of disinformation on social media about the care children’s hospitals offer to transgender teens.

Gender-affirming care refers to any medical services intended for people whose gender identity does not match the gender they were assigned at birth. Care could range from voice coaching and hair removal to hormone therapy and surgery.

Research suggests that access to gender-affirming care improves the mental health of trans teens and adults.

» READ MORE: Voice therapy can help trans people sound like themselves and feel safer

Over the last year, gender-affirming care for youth has been a focal point for conservative activists and lawmakers. In multiple states, new laws and proposed bills aim to limit teens’ access to such care. Other bills target parents or physicians who assist a minor in their transition.

Since the online campaigns began, Boston Children’s Hospital has received more than a dozen threats in recent weeks, according to the FBI. In September, a Massachusetts woman was charged with one count of making a false bomb threat against the hospital. Boston Children’s has been accused online of encouraging surgical procedures such as hysterectomies (removal of the uterus) on teens as part of their gender transition.

The hospital said in an August statement that it “requires a patient to be capable of consenting for themselves” and as such “does not — and will not — perform a hysterectomy as part of a gender-affirming care on a patient under the age of 18.”

Other hospitals that reported harassment include UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

A spokesperson for St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia said that the hospital does not have a gender-affirming care program and had no incidents of threats or violence. A spokesperson for Nemours Children’s Health in Delaware said the hospital supports the letter sent by the associations but didn’t say if it had been targeted.