Major US children's hospital opens historic detransition clinic after $10M legal showdown

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday that the nation’s first-ever detransition clinic has opened at Texas Children’s Hospital following a $10 million settlement with the state.

The announcement comes after Paxton reached a settlement with TCH in May, finalized in August, requiring the hospital to pay $10 million to resolve government claims and separately establish and fund a detransition clinic. The new clinic provides "detransition-related medical care to patients through age 21, along with detransition-related obstetric and gynecologic care to patients older than 21," according to Paxton's office.

"In accordance with my settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital, the nation’s first-ever Detransition Clinic is now open," Paxton said in a statement. "I will continue to ensure that this clinic provides the care and support that victims of the radical left’s gender ideology deserve."

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"Together, we will protect our children and defeat the dangerous ideology that has inflicted irreversible harm on innocent kids," he continued.

Tuesday's announcement comes as Paxton is running for election in Texas' 2026 Senate race. President Donald Trump campaigned in two separate Texas cities, Corpus Christi and Lubbock, on Tuesday in an effort to boost Paxton's Senate bid.

The Trump administration has been targeting initiatives related to transgender people in recent months. Trump announced in August that his administration will cease providing funding for gender transition surgeries using Medicaid for minors.

Paxton's office did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

A TCH spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the hospital prioritizes providing patients "the highest standard of care," including through the detransition clinic.

"First and foremost, patients and families are at the center of all we do and we will always provide the highest standard of care, including through this clinic, which formalizes the supportive, multidisciplinary services we have and will continue to deliver," the TCH spokesperson said. "Given the multidisciplinary approach, care may be delivered in multiple locations, depending on individual patient needs."

"All services provided will be within our hospital’s existing licensure and scope," the spokesperson added. "Services will include Endocrinology, Surgery, Primary Care, Fertility Counseling, Psychiatry, Psychology, Social Work/Case Management and Speech Pathology. The clinic is operational and we are complying with all requirements in the settlement agreement."

The TCH spokesperson also told Fox News Digital that the hospital is "actively triaging prospective patients" for the detransition clinic.

"Protecting the privacy of our patients and their families is a top priority, thus we are unable to share patient information," the spokesperson stated. "We are actively triaging prospective patients through our established intake process. We can tell you that thus far, we have not yet had clinical appointments with patients."

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TCH is required to fully fund services provided through the detransition clinic for its first five years, ensuring patients receive those services at no cost, and must also publicize the clinic on its website, per the settlement.

The May settlement also required TCH to pay $10 million to resolve claims brought under the Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act and the federal False Claims Act over allegations that the hospital improperly billed Texas Medicaid for gender-transition treatments, according to Paxton's office.

Do No Harm, a medical advocacy organization critical of gender-transition treatments for minors, estimates that 13,994 minors received gender-transition-related medical interventions between 2019 and 2023, based on its analysis of insurance claims data.

A Fox News poll published on Oct. 21 found that Democratic candidate James Talarico and Paxton were tied at 49% each among likely voters in the Lone Star State.