Texas legislature bans transgender medical care for children
The news
Despite opposition from Democrats and loud protests in the Capitol this month, the Texas legislature on Wednesday voted to pass a bill that would ban hormone and puberty-blocking treatments, as well as surgeries for transgender children. The state is poised to become the largest state to ban transitional medical care for minors.
The final version of the bill included a limited exemption for those transgender children who were already undergoing medical treatment before the bill passed, though it also required those patients to go off the drugs indefinitely.
The bill would prohibit a physician from performing mastectomies or surgeries that would sterilize a child or otherwise remove healthy tissue or body parts, or prescribe drugs that would cause transient or permanent infertility. It’s now going to the governor’s office.
The legislation was one of several proposals aimed at regulating the lives of transgender people being considered this year by the Republican-dominated legislature: On Wednesday, the state House voted to pass a measure that would require athletes in public schools to compete on the basis of of the gender stated on their birth certificate at the time of their birth.
Background: The latest action to prevent menopausal treatment
The legislation, known as Senate Bill 14, was one of the most volatile measures of the state’s biennial legislative session. protests by transgender Texans and their supporters at the Capitol this month. State police arrested two people during protests as the bill was debated in the Texas House.
Opponents in the House twice delayed voting on the bill for procedural reasons before it was finally passed and sent back to the Senate, where it first passed last month. The Senate agreed with the House version and sent it to the governor on Wednesday.
Even before the legislation was passed, Texan officials had taken steps to prevent transgender children from accessing transitional medical care. Last year, Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, ordered the state’s Child Protective Services to investigate parents for child abuse if their children received such treatment. Some Texan families fled the state as a result, even while investigations were ongoing challenged in court.
Why it matters: Largest state bans transitional care for minors
At least 14 other states have banned or restricted medical treatment for transgender children. Texas would be the largest state to do so. According to estimates from the Williams Institutea research center that reports on the demographics of the LGBTQ community, nearly 30,000 transgender children between the ages of 13 and 17 live in Texas, representing about 1 percent of Texans in that age group.
The bans are part of a national effort by Republican elected leaders to clamp down on medical care for transgender children, discussions about gender in schools and cross-dressing. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill Wednesday that would ban hormone treatments and sex reassignment care for minors, and punish doctors who violate the law with up to five years in prison.
Supporters of the law in Texas have called the treatments “mutilation.” Opponents denounced the measure as a politicized attack on the transgender community that would prevent people from receiving the care needed to address gender dysphoria. The treatments have been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
What’s Next: The Governor’s Signature and Possible Investigations
The bill goes to the governor’s office. His office declined to comment on the legislation this week. It would go into effect on September 1.
Under the bill, minors already receiving prescribed medical treatment would be able to “wean themselves” from the medication “for a specified period of time and in a manner that is safe and medically appropriate.”
But it wasn’t clear whether doctors would feel comfortable continuing to provide that care. The bill gives enforcement powers to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Even before it was adopted, Mr. Paxton has already begun investigations into “possible illegal activity” with at least one medical provider over sex reassignment treatments.
After Mr Paxton examined the provider, Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, the center said doctors who treat transgender children, don’t work there anymore.