Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued a new interpretation of state law concluding that gender-affirming health procedures for transgender youth constitute a form of child abuse.
The opinion represents a drastic change that would make Texas one of the most prominent legal battlegrounds in the national clash over transgender and parental rights.
“There is no doubt that these procedures are ‘abuse’ under Texas law, and thus must be halted,” Mr. Paxton said Monday in a news release. “The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has a responsibility to act accordingly. I’ll do everything I can to protect those who take advantage of and harm young Texans.”
Citing sections of the Texas Family Code, the opinion states that certain procedures performed on minors, including such practices as castration, fabrication of new sex organs through surgery and the prescription of puberty suppressors and infertility inducers, should be considered abuse.
Mr. Paxton argues that such procedures can cause “mental or emotional injury to a child that results in an observable and material impairment in the child’s growth, development, or psychological functioning” and cause “physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child.”
Mr. Paxton believes that “The state’s power is arguably at its zenith when it comes to protecting children,” adding that they must step in when “parental control falters.”
The opinion follows the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ (DFPS) August 2021 ruling that gender-affirmation surgery be considered child abuse. That ruling was in response to an inquiry by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that the department issue a “determination of whether genital mutilation of a child for the purposes of gender transitioning through reassignment surgery constitutes child abuse pursuant to state law.”
Mr. Paxton’s opinion goes against recommendations from major state and national medical agencies, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The Texas Pediatric Society issued a statement asking the DFPS to take all the evidence into account, including the guidelines provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“We believe that doing so will make it absolutely clear that providing gender-affirming care to transgender children and adolescents unequivocally does not constitute child abuse,” the Texas Pediatric Society wrote in August.
The issue extends beyond Texas. Legislators in Arkansas passed a law prohibiting doctors from providing minors with medical care for gender dysphoria — the feeling of distress that can occur in people who identify as a different gender than the one assigned at birth.
Tennessee also passed a law that banned minors from receiving hormone treatments.
Mr. Paxton and other state attorneys general also recently filed an amicus brief in support of Arkansas’ law.w
• Peter Santo can be reached at psanto@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.