Medical center accused of performing illegal 'gender transitioning' surgeries on children — Texas AG launches investigation

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Friday that his office had launched an investigation into Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin after allegations surfaced that the clinic illegally performs "gender transitioning" surgeries on children.

In 2021, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services declared that gender surgeries on minors are "child abuse." Last year, Paxton issued an opinion that "so-called sex-change" surgeries and puberty blockers for children constitute child abuse under Texas law.

Paxton shared the announcement on Twitter, writing, "I am launching an investigation into Dell Children's Medical Center regarding gender transitioning of minors. Gender transitioning minors is child abuse, and child abuse will not be tolerated."

As part of the investigation, Paxton issued a Request to Examine to the medical center, which requires the institution to answer for the allegations to determine if any laws were violated.

Paxton said, "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."

"Across the country, there are doctors and health care professionals who appear willing to sacrifice the long-term health of American children, all in service to the increasingly dangerous fad of 'transgender' extremism," he continued. "It is deeply disturbing, and there is no place for it in Texas. 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."

In April, Project Veritas released footage obtained by undercover journalists that captured Nora Scott, a licensed social worker with the Dell Children's Medical Center, explaining that children as young as 8 and 9 could receive genital-mutilating procedures.

"We do have patients who are starting [transition] as young as 8, 9 [years old]. So, we do have folks on the younger side," Scott stated in the video. "In regards to prescribing, that's up to the prescriber's discretion. They might just require a couple of appointments just to see, it might be appropriate after one. It's not something that we want to gatekeep and require someone to come see us 10 times before it's prescribed."

Following the video's release, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Chip Roy vowed to investigate the Austin medical center.

Cruz told the Daily Caller News Foundation, "These experimental procedures fail to deliver on the promises made by gender ideology zealots and are more dangerous than the problems they seek to solve. While parents are often parroted specious talking points about how their children will harm themselves if they do not transition, the opposite is true."

Dell Children's Medical Center did not respond to a request for comment, the DCNF reported.

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