Texas Children's must open country's first "detransition clinic"https://www.axios.com/local/houston/2026/05/15/texas-childrens-detransition-clinic-paxton-settlement 🔗Axios - Houston, Shafaq Patel
May 15, 2026
Texas Children's Hospital must open what is believed to be the country's first "detransition clinic" and pay the state $10 million as part of a settlement over transgender care for minors, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday.
The settlement marks the latest move by Texas Republicans to restrict transgender rights as the state has enacted some of the nation's toughest policies targeting trans people, including limits on gender-affirming care for minors, sports participation and bathroom access.
Texas Children's, the country's largest pediatric hospital, is also required to stop providing gender-transition care for minors and fire and revoke the medical privileges of five doctors.
Texas Children's said in a statement Friday it "made the difficult decision" to settle to avoid prolonged litigation after spending three years responding to investigations by Paxton's office and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Transition-related care for kids is considered safe, appropriate and medically necessary for children by major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association.
Surgeries for transgender children are rare. Transgender teens who get gender-affirming care report high levels of satisfaction.
Detransitioning, or stopping or reversing gender transition, is relatively uncommon. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health said evidence of later regret is limited.------------------------
Using Houston's population of about 2.4 million, that suggests roughly:
~19,000 transgender adults (using the 0.8% adult estimate)
~20,000–24,000 transgender people total including teens, depending on age mix and methodology.
But not all transgender people (of any age) actually transition for various reasons. Even fewer teens and younger do because standards like WPATH encourage counseling and mental health services until they are old enough to decide.
Of that extremely small number who do go through with transitioning, roughly 1%–4% discontinue transition or detransition.
