Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation intended to protect children from undergoing gender alteration surgeries and other medical procedures on June 1 — the beginning of Pride month.
SB 14 bans an assortment of “treatments” from being offered to people under the age of 18 that are “for the purpose of transitioning a child’s biological sex as determined by the sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous profiles of the child or affirming the child’s perception of the child’s sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex.”
Banned procedures include castration, vasectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, metoidioplasty, orchiectomy, penectomy, phalloplasty, vaginoplasty, mastectomy; administration of “puberty suppression or blocking prescription drugs to stop or delay normal puberty,” supraphysiologic doses of testosterone to females, and supraphysiologic doses of estrogen to males; and the removal of “any otherwise healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue.”
Doctors who continue to perform such operations or offer banned treatments will have their medical licenses revoked, and the Office of the Attorney General is empowered to take legal action to prevent such procedures or treatments from being performed.
Rep. Tom Oliverson (R-Cypress), a medical doctor and one of the law’s authors, said on Twitter, “Children in Texas are officially protected from harmful, experimental medical and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria. … We knew there would be court challenges. SB14 was written with that in mind and will prevail.”
Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) also tweeted his support for the law, writing, “Thank you Gov. @GregAbbott_TX for signing into law SB 14, protecting children from gender modification and mutilation. I was honored to co-author this bill with Senator @DonnaCampbellTX and Representative @TomOliverson. Huge victory for Texas children.”
Opponents of the legislation have claimed that preventing doctors from obtaining these treatments will lead to the deaths of trans-identifying minors.
“You and your ilk have sentenced transgender children to death,” Texan Kathy Eads tweeted at Hughes. “Their blood is on your hands. Shame on you.”
The ACLU of Texas has promised to fight SB 14 in court, tweeting, “Gov. Abbott has signed #SB14 into law, banning life-saving health care for trans youth.”
“Abbott can’t stop trans youth from thriving in Texas — and we’ll take him to court to make sure of it,” the group continued. “We are doing everything in our power to preserve access to this life-saving, evidence-based health care.”
Supporters of the law claim that allowing children to undergo such irreversible operations is barbaric, arguing there should at least be age restrictions like there are for getting a tattoo or drinking alcohol.
Andrew Brown, the associate vice president of policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, explained, “Within the last year, support for banning the gender modification of children increased by 14%. That is a massive increase.”
“It’s because this issue has now gone into the public consciousness, and when you actually understand what’s going on, what these medications are doing to kids, what these surgeries are all about, it’s horrific,” he said.
The ban will take effect on September 1, 2023. However, some exceptions to this deadline will be allowed in narrow circumstances.
Children previously put on prescription drugs will generally be required to “wean off the prescription drug in a manner that is safe and medically appropriate and that minimizes the risk of complications.”
