Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced an investigation into an Austin pediatric clinic for potentially performing “gender transitioning” procedures on children.
The Dallas Express contacted the clinic in question, Dell Children’s Medical Center, for comment but received no statement by press time.
In a Friday press release, Paxton claimed it is “now alarmingly common for fringe activists to use their positions in medicine and health care to force experimental, life-altering procedures onto children.”
“It is deeply disturbing, and there is no place for it in Texas,” Paxton continued. “Along these lines, there have been a number of recent reports about potentially illegal activity at Dell Children’s Medical Center, and this investigation aims to uncover the truth.”
Paxton issued a Request to Examine (RTE) to the clinic in an attempt to determine whether it has violated state law or whether “any misrepresentations have been made to parents and patients.”
“If Dell Children’s Medical Center is performing harmful gender transition procedures on kids, the public needs to know immediately,” Texas Values President Jonathan Saenz said to The Dallas Express. “Attorney General Paxton was right to investigate such a disturbing report.”
Critics, however, allege Paxton’s investigation amounts to an attack on children who identify as transgender.
“There’s no disagreement among the major medical organizations that trans kids deserve AFFIRMING care, but Texas is trying to criminalize this care and intimidate the providers who offer it,” Zack Ford, senior communications manager for Alliance for Justice, tweeted in response to Paxton’s announcement.
The attorney general’s investigation follows an April exposé by Project Veritas in which a Dell Children’s Medical Center employee was apparently videotaped discussing the clinic’s practice of giving such measures to minors.
“We do have patients who are starting [transgender treatment] as young as eight, nine [years-old],” licensed social worker Nora Scott of Dell Children’s Medical Center allegedly said to an undercover Project Veritas journalist. “So we do have folks on the younger side.”
“In regards to prescribing [puberty blockers], that’s up to the prescriber’s discretion,” the Dell Children’s Medical Center employee reportedly continued. “And they might just require a couple of appointments just to see. It might be appropriate after one.”
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and U.S. Representative Chip Roy, both Texas Republicans, subsequently sent a letter to the clinic leaders on April 25 requesting answers to questions pertaining to Dell Children’s Medical Center’s alleged practice of prescribing gender transition procedures to minors.
Dell Children’s Medical Group provided a statement on its website following the allegations.
“Our organization prohibits surgery and prescribing hormone therapy for the treatment of gender dysphoria for children. While our pediatric and adolescent medicine clinics do not provide these interventions, we do provide a safe and welcoming place for children to receive other forms of primary care and treatment, including treatment of illness and injuries, well-baby visits, and school physicals,” the statement read.
Paxton’s announcement comes on the same day that Senate Bill 14 is slated to be debated on the floor of the Texas Senate. The bill would prohibit doctors from helping children access procedures related to gender transitions.
Saenz argued to The Dallas Express that the allegations “against Dell Children’s Medical Center [are] another reason why SB 14 must be passed, so we can protect kids from harmful gender transition procedures.”
However, opponents argue such laws are harmful to youths who identify as transgender.
Houston endocrinologist Jessica Zwiener testified on SB 14 that, after receiving gender transition procedures, children “become more outgoing” and “take better care of themselves.”
“They try harder in school. They’re just happier. They can see a future,” said Zwiener, per The Texas Tribune. “Nobody talks about that.”
The attorney general’s investigation is now ongoing. The Dallas Express reached out to Paxton’s office for additional information but received no response by press time.
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