Trump DOJ forces major Texas children’s hospital to stop trans care & open ‘detransition’ clinic

One of the country’s premier pediatric hospitals is agreeing not only to abandon transgender youth care, but to help construct a new medical framework around the idea that transition itself is harmful.The Trump administration and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced what they called a “landmark” settlement Friday with one of the nation’s largest children’s hospitals, forcing the end of pediatric gender-affirming care at the institution, imposing a $10 million payment, and requiring the creation of what federal officials described as the country’s first clinic dedicated to so-called “detransition” care.The agreement with Texas Children’s Hospital marks one of the most stunning setbacks for trans people in the Republican administration’s accelerating campaign against their healthcare.Under the settlement, Texas Children’s will stop providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries to transgender minors, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and Paxton’s office. The agreement also requires the Houston-based hospital system to establish, as the DOJ called it, a “restorative care” clinic for detransitioners and to terminate five physicians tied to the program.“The Justice Department will use every weapon at its disposal to end the destructive and discredited practice of so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ for children,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Friday.Related: Texas Republican proposes ban on gender-affirming care for all trans peopleThe settlement goes beyond ending care. Reuters reports that Texas Children’s agreed to fire five physicians involved in treating transgender youth and permanently revoke their privileges, while changing its bylaws to automatically strip privileges from any doctor found violating Texas’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.Federal officials alleged Texas Children’s improperly billed insurers and government healthcare programs for transgender-rel