Children’s Health and UT Southwestern released a joint statement to address their decisions regarding transgender hormone usage for minors. Both hospitals recently stopped accepting new patients for gender dysphoria if they were minors. However, they continued treating patients already receiving hormone treatments.
The hospitals decided to halt specific medical care following the legal challenges and debate surrounding transgender hormone usage for minors.
“As we emphasized at that time,” the statement reads, “the care of existing patients would be unchanged, and new patients would still have continued access to the broader array of gender-affirming care we provide, particularly the psychiatric care considered foundational to gender transition and other front-line services necessary for evaluation of potential gender dysphoria.”
Children’s Health and UT Southwestern decided to avoid putting the program in jeopardy of being completely shut down.
Legal debates revolving around transgender hormone usage for minors in Texas began in February 2022. As reported by The Dallas Express, Attorney General Ken Paxton published an opinion that called these procedures child abuse under Texas law.
Paxton called on the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate the families of transgender minors.
“The [DFPS] has a responsibility to act accordingly,” Paxton said. “I’ll do everything I can to protect against those who take advantage of and harm young Texans.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a letter to the DFPS following the opinion, ordering the department to investigate families with children receiving transgender hormone usage treatments. Under Abbott’s directive, criminal penalties would be placed for doctors, teachers, and nurses who do not report the abuse.
In response to Abbott’s letter, Children’s Health, UT Southwestern, and other Texas hospitals halted or limited their transgender hormone usage for minors.
Though it made changes, UT Southwestern did not close its transgender-servicing clinics.
“To be clear: UT Southwestern physicians are currently providing gender-affirming care to both youths and adults,” the joint hospital statement clarifies. “Our clinics for youths experiencing or needing evaluation for gender dysphoria were never closed and have been actively accepting new patients. We continue to provide evaluations for gender dysphoria in youths, continue to provide psychiatric care for gender transition, and continue the coordination of these services.”
The statement goes on to say, “Whatever the result of ongoing legal battles and future legislative action, it is evident the debate over the appropriate age of consent for hormone treatments calls for additional medical reviews and study, and uncertainty about the role of public institutions in providing this care will continue for some time. While these discussions play out, we remain firm in our commitment to provide care for patients of all ages, beliefs, backgrounds, and identities. That remains our focus today and always.”
According to ABC News, the DFPS is investigating at least nine families in response to the attorney general’s published opinion.
District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction halting these investigations on March 11.
Per ABC, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Family Physicians are among the organizations that have taken positions against Texas’ directives.
