Hospital officials cited privacy for children as a reason behind the decision and said patients will still receive care through other departments.
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Less than two months ago, officials at Children’s Medical Center Dallas told a local website that their program offering mental health services and hormone treatments to transgender children was vital for young people with gender dysphoria.
Known as GENECIS, the program has been criticized in recent weeks by activists who have organized protests targeting hospital board members and accused the program of committing child abuse.
The activists’ allegations echo broad claims Republican Texas officials and political candidates have made this year about the gender-affirming health care that transgender children receive — assertions that medical experts say are false because doctors are not allowing children to go through with irreversible medical treatments.
The harassment experienced by healthcare providers “trying to uphold their Hippocratic oath to save lives” is “heartbreaking,” according to Ricardo Martinez, CEO of Equality Texas.
“The choice to remove branding for this care offers a more private, insulated experience for patients and their families,” the joint statement said.
Criticisms of the program came amid a wave of anti-transgender political sentiment in Texas. Lawmakers this year banned transgender student athletes from participating on the school sports teams that match their gender identity. That new law came after unsuccessful legislative attempts to ban treatments like those offered through GENECIS and define such health care as child abuse.
Medical experts have pushed back on those portrayals. Leading health care organizations in Texas have said gender-affirming care is the best way to provide care to transgender children. That includes the use of puberty blockers, a type of medical treatment that delays puberty and is completely reversible. Such treatment has been approved for children for decades.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/19/texas-transgender-children-health-care-program-genecis/