Texas Republican forces children's hospital to open a "detransition clinic"

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, locked in a tight race with incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) for the Republican nomination for Senate, is burnishing his MAGA bona fides with an unusual settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital over claims of fraudulent billing and other violations of Texas’ ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.

A so-called “Detransition Clinic” is part of his ploy.

Paxton initiated a years-long investigation of the hospital in 2023 after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation banning gender-affirming care for trans youth. According to the hospital, Texas Children’s has produced more than 5 million documents to both Paxton’s office and the U.S. Department of Justice in related investigations, the Texas Tribune reports.

The case involves, among other accusations, charges that some doctors at Texas Children’s did not use the correct billing codes and did not use the correct gender identifiers for trans patients, something Paxton’s office argues was done to avoid detection under the state ban on gender-affirming care.

While maintaining their innocence, the hospital said in a statement it decided to settle “to protect our resources from endless and costly litigation… We stand proud knowing we will always put our purpose over politics and that we have and will continue to follow the law.”

They’re paying a high price to avoid Paxton’s relentless pursuit.

Terms of the settlement include paying $10 million for billing Texas Medicaid for “illegal ‘gender-transition’ interventions” under false pretenses; an agreement to “fire, permanently and irrevocably terminate all existing privileges, and never again hire or credential five woke doctors who performed harmful medical interventions on Texans”; and to establish an unprecedented “Detransition Clinic” to “help patients reverse the damage caused by ideologically-motivated physicians who harmed patients by performing dangerous medical interventions for the purpose of ‘transitioning’ them,” according to a statement from Paxton’s office.

“This settlement will ensure that the deranged child mutilators who hurt our kids are fired and held accountable,” the right-wing AG said, adding that his pet “Detransition Clinic” will “help provide free care to those who have been victimized by twisted, morally bankrupt transgender ideology.” The hospital is compelled to provide care to those “detransitioners” for free.

Paxton applauded Texas Children’s for being “part of the solution.”

They’ll likely find few takers for their new services, however.

Studies routinely show that among trans youth who start receiving some form of gender-affirming care, just a tiny fraction go on to detransition.

A study published in JAMA Pediatrics in 2024 revealed that just 1% of trans youth choose to do so. Research from the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2022 found that only 2.5% of young people who identified as trans identified as cisgender five years later.

A survey of 84,000 transgender adults in 2025, released by Advocates For Trans Equality, revealed that 98% of respondents said they felt more satisfied with their lives since transitioning.

Paxton has made his anti-transgender crusade a centerpiece of both his tenure as attorney general and his campaign for Senate, in a clear bid to woo the MAGA base that could send him to the general election in November. The primary pitting Paxton against establishment candidate Cornyn is September 9. The winner will face Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in the general.

The president has yet to endorse either Republican in the primary.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Originally published here.