A new state law prohibiting gender-affirming care for youngsters went into effect on Friday after the Texas Supreme Court approved it, making Texas the most populous state to impose such limitations on transgender children.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other legal activists who brought a lawsuit on behalf of the patients’ families and doctors referred to both the statute and the high court’s ruling on Thursday as “cruel.”
“Transgender children and their families must face the beginning of the school year while feeling anxious about what is ahead. But let’s be clear: The battle is far from finished,” the advocacy organizations stated in a statement.
A state district court decided last week that the proposed law infringed the rights of transgender children along with their families to receive adequate medical care, as well as the ability of doctors to adhere to “well-established, evidence-based” medical recommendations without risking their professional licenses.
State officials promptly appealed to the state’s highest court for civil disputes after the judge imposed a temporary injunction to halt the law.
The Supreme Court’s order to lift the injunction and for the statute to go into effect was unanimously Republican. The lower court’s decision that the law is unconstitutional was not addressed by the order, and a thorough hearing is anticipated.
More than 20 states have passed legislation prohibiting some forms of gender-affirming child care, while some of these laws have not yet taken effect or are being put on hold by the courts.
Despite the fact that transition surgeries are rarely performed on children, according to medical professionals, the Texas bill would ban transgender minors from getting hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and other treatment options. The rule said that children who have already begun taking the drugs that are being banned must be weaned off of them in a “medically appropriate” way.
According to Jonathan Covey, policy director of Texas Values, a conservative organization that backed the law, “Texas kids are safer today because of the Supreme Court ruling.” We all agree that it is in the best interests of the child to protect them from puberty blockers and damaging and deadly gender change operations.
The lawsuit claimed that if transgender kids are unable to receive life-saving therapy that is advised by their doctors and parents, the Texas law will have disastrous effects on them.
Many medical professionals who care for transgender children expressed concern that if they are not given safe and efficient treatment, their patients’ mental health may deteriorate and may even result in suicide.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who was the first to initiate an investigation into the families of transgender youngsters who undergo gender-affirming care, signed the Texas prohibition into law in June.