Texas Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Banning Gender Procedures On Minors

On Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court overruled a judge’s temporary injunction that blocked a state law prohibiting doctors from performing transgender treatments and surgeries on minors — allowing the law to go into effect on Friday.

The law — which prohibited medical providers from treating minors with puberty blockers and hormones, or performing surgical procedures on minors — was initially blocked last week by Texas District Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel. The law also made it illegal to use taxpayer funds for such procedures.

In her ruling, Hexsel claimed that the law “infringes upon the Texas Constitution’s guarantees of equality under the law by enacting a discriminatory and categorical prohibition on evidence-based medical treatments for transgender youth.”

Immediately after the judge blocked the law from taking effect, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court that placed Hexsel’s order on hold.

Paxton pointed out in his appeal that transgender medical interventions are “unproven” and “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.”

While the Texas Supreme Court did allow the law to take effect, it did not disclose whether it believes that the ban is unconstitutional. In the ruling, the court noted that “The direct appeal remains pending before this Court.”

The ban is set to go into effect on September 1.

In a press release, Paxton’s office noted that it will “continue to enforce the laws duly enacted by the Texas Legislature and uphold the values of the people of Texas by doing everything in its power to protect children from damaging ‘gender transition’ interventions.”

The bill was signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in June, making Texas the largest state to pass legislation protecting children from dangerous, irreversible transgender procedures. At least 20 states have passed bills banning transgender treatments for minors, many of which prohibited both surgical and chemical procedures.

The legislation was surprisingly supported by one Democrat state lawmaker, Texas state Rep. Shawn Thierry — who spoke out in favor of the bill on the floor of the state legislature earlier this year, going against her party, who used parliamentary tactics to stall the bill.

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