Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered his state’s child welfare agency to investigate reports of ‘gender-transitioning procedures’ as potential child abuse.
Abbott issued the order in a letter on Tuesday to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, saying that procedures for transgender youth such as hormone therapy constitute child abuse.
The directive came just one day after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is like Abbott a Republican, issued an opinion finding that such procedures are child abuse under existing Texas law.
The Biden administration responded furiously to the Texas order, with a White House spokesperson calling it needless and dangerous.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered his state’s child welfare agency to investigate reports of ‘gender-transitioning procedures’ as child abuse
Abbott issued the order in a letter on Tuesday to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
‘Conservative officials in Texas and other states across the country should stop inserting themselves into health care decisions that create needless tension between pediatricians and their patients,’ White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told the Dallas Morning News.
‘No parent should face the agony of a politician standing in the way of accessing life-saving care for their child,’ added Jean-Pierre.
Admiral Rachel L. Levine, a transgender woman who is Biden’s assistant secretary for health also slammed Abbott’s move.
‘Our nation’s leading pediatricians support evidence-based, gender affirming care for transgender young people. HHS stands with transgender youth and their medical providers,’ Levine said in a statement to the Morning News.
Abbott wrote in his letter that ‘it is already against the law to subject Texas children to a wide variety of elective procedures for gender transitioning, including reassignment surgeries that can cause sterilization, mastectomies, removals of otherwise healthy body parts, and administration of puberty-blocking drugs or supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or estrogen.’
The order requires DFPS to ‘conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures.’
LGBTQ rights supporters gather at the Texas State Capitol in September to protest state Republican-led efforts to pass legislation restricting transgender student athletes
The letter notes that doctors, nurses, and teachers are all mandated reporters who must report suspected child abuse, nothing that there are ‘criminal penalties for failure to report such child abuse.’
However, it was not immediately clear what legal impact his move would have on the parents of trans kids, or whether they would be or could be criminally prosecuted.
Some prosecutors in Texas have already rejected the notion of pursuing such cases, and state agencies have remained largely silent on how they interpret the new guidance.
While conservative and religious groups praised Abbott’s move, transgender advocates slammed it as harmful and politicized.
Texas Freedom Network President Val Benavidez told the Austin American-Statesman that Abbott’s action could deny ‘life-saving care for transgender youth.’
‘Transgender people already experience stigma and discrimination, harassment and violence simply because of who they are,’ Benavidez said, adding that politicians are using vulnerable youths as political pawns.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is like Abbott a Republican, issued an opinion finding that certain transitioning procedures are child abuse under existing Texas law
‘Regardless of opposition from child welfare and medical groups, Paxton and the Texas GOP continue to create barriers and laws that strip transgender children and their families of civil and equal rights.’
In recent months, The Texas Pediatric Society and Texas Medical Association urged Paxton not to target procedures for transgender children as potential crimes.
However, Abbott’s Republican allies in the Texas legislature praised his move.
‘This (Paxton) opinion means nothing if it’s not enforced,’ said Republican state Rep. Matt Schaefer to the Statesman.
‘The truth is, though, that we need a special session immediately to address this now that we have the backing of the attorney general’s office. We are not going to back down on this — this is a hill we are ready to die on,’ he added.
