The leadership of Texas Children’s Hospital responded to the Texas legislature’s ban on “transgender care” for minors by saying it was “heart-wrenching” they would no longer be able to provide “high-quality” hormone “therapy” for minors.
This is extremely disappointing rhetoric coming from one of the best medical institutions in the country. Frankly I’m angry I even have to make a statement about this, but I feel the need to speak out strongly about this because it impacts the health of our children.
Texas Children’s Hospital has continuously provided exceptional, advanced care. I’ve worked with them closely in the past and they are staffed with good, professional practitioners. Unfortunately, their leadership has adopted an ideology that is unscientific and dangerous—providing “gender-affirming” care to MINORS. Maybe they were pressured to do so by outside actors or woke activists within their organization. Either way, this ideology has no place in an institution like Texas Children’s.
At least 16 states have restricted or banned gender surgery for minors, with the Texas legislature recently passing a bill to become the largest state to ban “gender-affirming health care” for minors. This includes hormone therapies, puberty blockers, and surgeries for children under 18 in the state. The timing of the bill’s passage coincided with news reports about Texas Children’s Hospital’s use of hormone therapy for minors, and child welfare investigations into parents who supported “gender-affirming care” for their children.
Children under 18 are not legally able to smoke, drink, or get a tattoo. We can’t expect them to understand the consequences of life-altering decisions like attempting to change their biological sex. Responsible parents should stop their children from going down this dangerous path before it even gets to a serious discussion about permanently altering the physiology of their kids. When parents fail to do this, it’s up to doctors to honor their Hippocratic oath to DO NO HARM and refuse to participate in what amounts to a pseudoscientific, pathological social trend with irreversible ramifications.
It’s sad to see that this ideology has infiltrated even the most highly respected medical institutions, but I’m proud to see that the Texas legislature is taking a stand against it and that Governor Abbott said he will sign the bill. Texas Children’s Hospital can save their reputation for world-class care that took them years to build if they simply have the courage to own up to their mistake. It’s not too late.
