Texas Legislature bans gender-affirming care for minors

The Texas Legislature passed a bill Wednesday banning doctors in the state from providing gender-affirming care to minors.

The legislation, which next heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) desk, would prohibit health care providers from prescribing hormones and puberty blockers to minors or performing a variety of surgeries with the purpose of aiding their gender transition.

While the bill provides an exception for children currently on hormones or puberty blockers, it requires that they “wean off” the drugs “in a manner that is safe and medically appropriate.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Friday slammed the Texas House for advancing the bill that blocks “evidence-based, life-saving health care” for transgender adolescents.

“This is a dark day in Texas,” Ash Hall, a policy and advocacy strategist at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement. “Our legislature has turned its back on science, parents, and the safety and lives of children. Our hearts break for transgender young people in our state who have repeatedly been attacked by their own government for callous political gain.”

The bill follows an effort by Abbott last year to have parents who provided their children with gender-affirming care investigated for child abuse.

With the governor widely expected to sign the legislation, Texas would join 16 other states — Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Iowa, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida — that have already banned such care for transgender youths.

Georgia has also banned most gender-affirming care, while the Missouri Legislature passed a similar bill last week that is awaiting signature.