Seattle Children’s Hospital will stop providing gender-transition procedures and medication for Texas minors as part of an agreement made with state attorney general Ken Paxton.
The hospital was facing an investigation for providing transgender services to Texas children, who traveled to Washington to get such treatment. Those children were then given prescriptions for sex-change hormones, which could be shown to pharmacies in Texas. Paxton, a Republican, said this is in violation of state law.
“Seattle Children’s Hospital appeared to break Texas law and initially tried to evade accountability when investigated,” Paxton said in a statement on Monday. The New York Post first reported on the mutual agreement.
Texas’s S.B. 14, which took effect in September, prohibits puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender-transition surgeries for minors in the state. In November, Paxton launched a civil investigation into Seattle Children’s Hospital after the medical facility refused to hand over medical records showing Texas patients receiving out-of-state transgender treatment.
A month later, Seattle Children’s Hospital sued Paxton, refusing to comply with his office’s subpoena. At the time, the plaintiff cited a state law that prohibited it from disclosing private medical documents of legal services. However, the complainant has since relented in its defiance of the attorney general’s order and agreed to cease business transactions in Texas by withdrawing its business registration from the Lone Star State. By its doing so, the hospital said Paxton ended his investigation.
“Protecting the privacy of our patients is our top priority, and Seattle Children’s successfully fought the Texas Attorney General’s overreaching demands to obtain confidential patient information. As a result, the Texas Attorney General withdrew his request,” a Seattle Children’s spokesperson told National Review.
“Seattle Children’s does not operate health care facilities or provide gender-affirming care in Texas,” the spokesperson claimed. “As the largest pediatric care provider in the Pacific Northwest, we comply with all applicable laws and take those obligations seriously.”
Paxton said the hospital “decided to leave the State of Texas and forfeit the opportunity to do business here” when his office started asking questions.
“Let this make our position clear: medical providers in Texas must abide by our laws,” he said. “In Texas, we vigorously protect children from damaging, experimental ‘gender transition’ treatments that can have life-altering negative consequences.”
Paxton also launched probes into Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, two facilities that reportedly performed gender-transition procedures on minors. S.B. 14 has since prevented such treatments from being given within the state. Texas is one of approximately 20 states that have banned transgender surgeries and medical treatments for minors; others include Idaho, Arizona, and Georgia.