Aug. 5 (UPI) — The Justice Department announced Wednesday that Connecticut Children’s Medical Center has agreed to stop offering gender-affirming care to minors amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on treatment supported by every major U.S. medical organization.

The Justice Department has been investigating doctors and clinics providing gender-affirming care to minors nationwide since at least July 2025, when it announced that the department had issued more than 20 subpoenas. The investigation followed a President Donald Trump executive order directing the department to prioritize investigations into alleged fraud, consumer deception and federal drug-law violations involving such care.

The order separately directed federal agencies to take steps to ensure that medical institutions receiving federal research or education grants end such care for people under 19.

The Justice Department did not identify the statutes or specify what federal laws Connecticut Children’s allegedly violated, but said Connecticut Children’s denies claims.

The Justice Department added that there was no determination of liability.

In the agreement announced Wednesday, which resolves the Justice Department’s allegations, Connecticut Children’s also agreed to pay an undisclosed monetary penalty and dedicate an additional $500,000 in medical care for individuals “living with the harmful consequences of ‘gender-affirming care,'” the Justice Department said.

UPI has contacted Connecticut Children’s for comment.

Gender-affirming care, including for minors, is supported by every major medical association in the United States. It includes a range of therapies, including psychological, behavioral and medical interventions, with surgeries for minors being exceedingly rare. According to a 2024 Harvard study, cisgender minors and adults were far more likely to undergo analogous gender-affirming surgeries than their transgender counterparts.

Contrary to medical guidance, Republicans over the past few years have sought to restrict and ban gender-affirming care, while spreading misinformation concerning such treatment.

Upon returning to the White House, Trump implemented a series of policies targeting transgender Americans, including issuing an executive order on his first day in office directing government policy to recognize only male and female as sexes and stating that they are “not changeable.”

Eight days later, he signed a second executive order, “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” directing federal agencies to withhold funds from medical providers that offer gender-affirming medical care, such as puberty suppressants and hormones, to anyone under the age of 19.

In December, the Department of Health and Human Services announced proposed rules that would ban hospitals from performing gender-affirming care on minors as a condition of participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The Connecticut Children’s agreement follows similar agreements reached by Texas Children’s and Cleveland Clinic with the Justice Department to stop providing gender-affirming care to minors.