The years-long fight to protect children in Texas continues with more turmoil at a controversial gender clinic of Children’s Medical Center Dallas.
Dr. Ximena Lopez, director of the hospital’s now-hidden GENECIS program (which is jointly operated by the publicly funded University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center), has filed a petition in court demanding her employers explain why they halted their operations back in November.
The clinic performed “transgender” experiments on minors, administering sterilizing puberty blocker and cross-sex hormone drugs to children—and Dr. Lopez has been told she can no longer do that.
Texas Scorecard previously chronicled the backstory, which included the internationally known child abuse case of Dallas-area 9-year-old James Younger (whose mother told him he was a girl and explored chemical castration operations at the GENECIS program); the contentious political saga with top state officials; and UT Southwestern quietly ending the public branding of their 7-year clinic late last year.
Dr. Lopez is now asking the university and hospital officials to disclose related documents, including communications about elected officials and their potential pressure to halt the controversial experiments.
“That edict is patently prohibited discrimination. It is illegal,” the petition reads. “It potentially exposes Dr. Lopez to legal liability. The only question is: who is dictating this illegal policy and why?”
A UT Southwestern spokesperson told The Dallas Morning News they haven’t changed treatment for existing patients in the program, and they still give new patients certain “care,” such as psychological counseling that tells children they can turn into whatever biological sex they feel like.
However, if new patient families want the disfiguring drugs for their children, they are “now referred to an outside practice for this treatment.”
UT’s statement continued:
“The decision to cease offering puberty blockers and hormone therapy to new pediatric patients was based on a variety of factors, including growing concern in the medical community about our limited understanding of the long-term effects – both psychological and physical – on children who receive this treatment. We considered that there have not been controlled trials that have clearly delineated the effectiveness and safety of these treatments. According to the scientific journal Transgender Health, as of 2021: No medications carry an FDA indication for use in youth with gender dysphoria. Media attention and political and scientific controversy, as well as UT Southwestern’s status as a state agency, were considered in the months leading up to these joint decisions. UT Southwestern physicians provide pediatric care at Children’s Health facilities through our affiliation agreement.”
Furthermore, endocrinologist Dr. Michael Laidlaw recently told Fox News about some of the drugs’ consequences on children’s bodies.
“The off-label use of these medications for gender dysphoria is completely different [than their intended use for another medical condition],” the endocrinologist said. “Blocking normal puberty has numerous unhealthy side effects including loss of normal bone development, interference with normal brain and social development, and importantly causes infertility and sexual dysfunction. Many of these effects will be irreversible.”
The recent events at the Dallas clinic occurred amid a statewide fight over the issue; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently called the experiments “child abuse” in a 13-page formal legal opinion, and Gov. Greg Abbott subsequently wrote a letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, ordering them to investigate such cases in the state.
Local officials across the state and even national corporations have since retaliated.
Meanwhile, citizens and pro-family organizations are again exhorting Gov. Abbott to reconvene the state Legislature and finally enact a law to ban such medical operations on minors in Texas.
