A Texas judge has temporarily barred a law banning cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for kids from taking effect Friday.
Senate Bill 14, which would have taken effect Monday, bars doctors from providing a variety of sex change surgeries to minors, including orchiectomy, phalloplasty, and vaginoplasty. The law also bars providing sex change hormones and puberty blockers to kids. The law provides an exception for the rare occurrences in which individuals are born with both male and female body parts. The use of Medicaid funds for such medical interventions is also banned.
The bill was signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott June 2.(RELATED: Mom Sues School That Allegedly Hid Her Daughter’s Gender Identity, Led To Her Trafficking And Sexual Abuse)
The Texas Attorney General’s office appealed the ruling to the Texas Supreme Court the same day it was issued.
“While a district judge’s ruling attempted to block the state’s enforcement of a Texas law protecting children from ‘gender transition’ interventions, this filing stays the ruling pending a decision by the Texas Supreme Court,” a press release read.
Office of the Attorney General Files Appeal to Texas Supreme Court, Blocking District Judge’s Ruling and Upholding Protections For Children From “Gender Transition” Procedures ⬇️ https://t.co/Zmz7Brf9mq
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) August 25, 2023
“This year, the Texas Legislature passed SB 14, a law that prohibits hospitals from administering experimental hormones or conducting mutilative ‘gender transition’ surgical procedures on minors,” the release continued. “These unproven medical interventions are emphatically pushed by some activists in the medical and psychiatric professions despite the lack of evidence demonstrating medical benefit, and even while growing evidence indicates harmful effects on children’s mental and physical welfare.”
Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel of the State District Court in Travis County ruled that plaintiffs challenging the bill had a chance of succeeding at trial.
“The Act’s prohibitions on providing evidence-based treatment for adolescents with gender dysphoria stands directly at odds with parents’ fundamental right to make decisions concerning the care of their children,” she wrote.