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, with restrictions on such treatment.
The law, which went into effect on September 1, 2023, bans minors under 18 from accessing hormone therapies, puberty blockers and gender transition surgeries. Minors already taking such medications were required to gradually reduce their use. The law includes exemptions for minors in early puberty or who have “a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sexual development.”
The lawsuit challenging the law argued that it harms transgender teens who are prohibited from receiving gender transition treatment recommended by their doctors and parents, according to The Associated Press.
The all-Republican court ruled 8 to 1.
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The Texas Supreme Court on Friday upheld the state's ban on gender transition treatment for children. (AP Agency)
“We conclude that the Legislature made a permissible and rational policy decision to limit the types of medical procedures available to children, particularly in light of the relative nativity of gender dysphoria and its various modes of treatment and the Legislature's express constitutional authority to regulate the practice of medicine,” Judge Rebeca Aizpuru Huddle wrote.
The lone dissenting judge said the court was giving the state government the ability to “legislate the elimination of fundamental parental rights.”
“The state's categorical statutory ban prevents these parents, and many others, from developing individualized treatment plans for their children in consultation with their physicians, even for children whose treatment could be life-saving,” Judge Debra Lehrmann wrote. “The law is not only cruel, it is also unconstitutional.”
A lower court had ruled the law unconstitutional, but it was allowed to take effect while the case was being considered by the state Supreme Court.
Republican Texas 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 law prohibits children under 18 from accessing hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender transition surgery. (Fox News)
The groups that filed the lawsuit criticized the ruling as harmful to transgender children and their families.
“It is impossible to overstate the devastating impact of this ruling on Texas transgender youth and the families who love and support them,” said Karen Loewy, senior attorney and director of the Constitutional Law Practice at Lambda Legal, which was one of the groups that sued the state on behalf of the doctors and families, he told The Associated Press.
Ash Hall, a policy strategist and LGBTQIA+ rights advocate at the ACLU of Texas, said the government should not “deprive trans youth of the health care they need to survive and thrive,” adding that “Texas politicians' obsession with attacking trans kids and their families is unnecessarily 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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The lawsuit challenging the law argued that it harms transgender teens who are barred from receiving gender transition treatment recommended by their doctors and parents. (DINNER ALLISON/AFP via Getty Images)
A judge dismissed the medical groups' position as irrelevant to determining whether the Texas law is constitutional.
“The fact that expert witnesses or influential interest groups such as the American Psychiatric Association disagree with the Legislature's judgment is entirely irrelevant to the constitutional question,” Judge James Blacklock wrote in a concurring opinion. “The Texas Constitution authorizes the Legislature to regulate 'practitioners of medicine.'”
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At a lower court hearing, several doctors who treat transgender children testified that patients could face deteriorating mental health that could lead to suicide if they are denied gender transition treatment.
Texas officials said the law was necessary to protect children and pointed to several other restrictions on minors intended to keep them safe, including regarding tattoos, alcohol, tobacco and certain over-the-counter medications.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
