Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’s running for incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn‘s (R-TX) seat, announced Wednesday that his settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) has been fully executed.
The settlement agreement requires TCH to create “the country’s first Detransition Clinic” and open it within 90 days — by the end of October 2026.
According to the agreement, the clinic “will provide detransition-related medical care to patients up to and including the age of 21 who have received SexRejecting Procedures.” TCH is also required to “ensure that services rendered through the clinic are provided at no cost to patients for a period of five (5) years.”
BREAKING: I finalized a historic settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital, creating the first-ever Detransition Clinic and securing nearly $10 million for Texas. pic.twitter.com/ehyhFSxZL4
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) August 5, 2026
In addition to creating the clinic, TCH must also pay $10 million to resolve claims for “billing Texas Medicaid for unallowable and illegal ‘gender-transition’ interventions.”
Paxton wrote in a statement: “This settlement sends an unmistakable message: if you put radical ideology over children’s health, my office will go after you.”
Critics of Paxton and the agreement responded on social media with comments including, “I wouldn’t brag about suing a children’s hospital that also treats kids with cancer, Kenny. The $10 million you extorted means that some kids won’t be able to get life saving treatments.”
Paxton’s Democratic opponent, Texas State Rep. James Talarico said Monday that Republican attacks on transgender people are “culture war fights designed to tear us apart.”
Talarico told Rachel Maddow: “I mean, I don’t think we win by selling people out. And we’re refusing to do that in this campaign. This is a campaign of, by and for all Texans. And I think people are really tired of these culture war fights that are designed to tear us apart, designed to get us angry.”