Texas Supreme Court Upholds State Ban on Gender Transition Treatment for Minors

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday upheld the state’s ban on gender transition treatment for children, allowing the Lone Star State to remain one of at least 25 states, and the largest, to impose restrictions on this type of treatment.

The law, effective September 1, 2023, prohibits children under 18 from accessing hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and gender transition surgery. Children already taking these medications were required to gradually reduce their use. The law provides exemptions for children in early puberty or who have “a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development.”

The lawsuit challenging the law argued that it harms transgender teens who cannot receive gender transition treatment recommended by their doctors and parents, according to the Associated Press.

The court, composed of all Republicans, rendered its decision by a vote of 8 to 1.

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“We conclude that the legislature made a rational and permissible policy choice to limit the types of medical procedures available to children, particularly in light of the relative infancy of gender dysphoria and its various modalities of treatment and the legislature’s express constitutional authority to regulate this practice of medicine,” wrote Justice Rebeca Aizpuru Huddle.

The lone dissenting judge said the court gave the state government the ability to “legislate to remove fundamental parental rights.”

“The law’s categorical ban prevents these parents, and many others, from developing individualized treatment plans for their children in consultation with their doctors, even for children for whom treatment could save their lives.” , wrote Judge Debra Lehrmann. “The law is not only cruel, it is also unconstitutional. »

A lower court had ruled the law unconstitutional, but it was allowed to go into effect while the state Supreme Court considered the case.

Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton tweeted after the ruling that his office “will use every tool at our disposal to ensure doctors and medical institutions follow the law.”

The groups that filed the lawsuit criticized the decision, calling it harmful to transgender children and their families.

“It is impossible to overstate the devastating impact of this decision on Texas transgender youth and the families who love and support them,” Karen Loewy, senior attorney and director of the constitutional law practice at Lambda Legal, one of the groups that sued the state on behalf of the doctors and families, told The Associated Press.

Ash Hall, LGBTQIA+ policy and advocacy strategist for the ACLU of Texas, said the government should not “deprive transgender youth of the health care they need to survive and thrive,” adding that Texas politicians’ “obsession with attacking transgender children and their families is needlessly cruel.”

Gender transition treatment for transgender children is supported by major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, and the Endocrine Society.

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A judge dismissed the medical groups’ position as irrelevant to whether the Texas law is constitutional.

“The fact that expert witnesses or influential interest groups like the American Psychiatric Association disagree with the House’s judgment is completely irrelevant to the constitutional issue,” Justice James Blacklock wrote in a concurring opinion. “The Texas Constitution authorizes the legislature to regulate ‘practitioners of medicine.’”

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At a trial court hearing, several doctors who treat transgender children testified that patients could face a deterioration in their mental health that could potentially lead to suicide if they were denied transition treatment. gender.

Texas officials said the law was necessary to protect children and outlined several other restrictions for minors meant to keep them safe, including around tattoos, alcohol, tobacco and some over-the-counter drugs .

The Associated Press contributed to this report.