While the state of Utah has passed legislation banning sex alteration surgeries for minors, Texas legislators are considering bills that would substantially follow suit.
Over the weekend, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed into law a proposal that “prohibits performing sex characteristic surgical procedures on a minor for the purpose of effectuating a sex change.”
Sponsored by Sen. Michael Kennedy, who is a practicing physician, the legislation also added regulations to limit and restrict how “hormonal transgender treatments” are approved and administered. Additionally, the law opens doctors who perform sex alteration surgeries on minors up to medical malpractice lawsuits.
Upon signing the ban, Gov. Cox stated, “Legislation that impacts our most vulnerable youth requires careful consideration and deliberation.”
“While not a perfect bill, we are grateful for Sen. Kennedy’s more nuanced and thoughtful approach to this terribly divisive issue,” he continued. “More and more experts, states, and countries around the world are pausing these permanent and life-altering treatments for new patients until more and better research can help determine the long-term consequences.”
The ACLU of Utah denounced the legislation, asking Gov. Cox to veto the bill. In a letter, John Mejia, the organization’s legal director, claimed to be “deeply concerned about the damaging and potentially catastrophic effects this law will have on people’s lives and medical care, and the grave violations of people’s constitutional rights it will cause.”
“This bill bans access to life-saving medical care,” Mejia continued. “By cutting off medical treatment supported by every major medical association in the United States, the bill compromises the health and well-being of adolescents with gender dysphoria.”
“It ties the hands of doctors and parents by restricting access to the only evidence-based treatment available for this serious medical condition and impedes their ability to fulfill their professional obligations,” he added.
The Monday following Utah’s legislation being signed, Texas Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels) and Rep. Tom Oliverson (R-Cypress), who are both medical doctors, announced that they had filed companion bills in their respective chambers to “protect children from gender care exploitation and experimentation.”
The proposed legislation would prohibit procedures and treatments offered “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 this child’s sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex.”
The Dallas Express reached out to Sen. Campbell, who was unable to provide additional comment at the time due to the inclement weather. Instead, she pointed to a press release where she explained, “This is the right solution, the compassionate solution, and the solution that recognizes the reality of the science of adolescent care.”
“There is a mounting body of evidence that gender modification is doing irreversible harm to our young people,” Rep. Oliverson added. “It is time to put a stop to this medical experiment based on bad medical data.”
These proposals come after several other bills that would limit or regulate sex alteration surgeries for minors, including legislation by Sen. Bob Hall (R-Rockwall) and Rep. Nate Schatzline (R-Fort Worth).
When asked about the Utah legislation and the efforts to pass similar laws in Texas, Rep. Schatzline explained to The Dallas Express, “I am very encouraged to see legislation in other states like Utah with the Transgender Medical Treatments and Procedures Amendment.”
“This puts us one step closer to protecting ALL children from the harmful practice of mutilation, not just in one state,” he continued. “By banning gender modification practices for minors, you give a child more time to think about who they are and seek mental health services instead of committing to a lifelong decision that they may regret because a literal child made it.”
“It is our duty to protect the most vulnerable: our children, not only from themselves but from adults with perverse incentives who seek to physically harm and permanently alter them,” he concluded.
Sen. Hall suggested to The Dallas Express that “The growing practice of surgically removing or altering perfectly healthy, normal body parts of children suffering from gender dysphoria in the name of ‘healthcare’ is a barbaric practice that is traumatic for children who are at an age when they cannot adequately comprehend the gravity of an action that is not reversible and has a lifelong impact.”
“Altering a person’s genitals does not miraculously make their life better, but it will lead to a future with severe consequences,” he concluded.
The Dallas Express reached out to the ACLU of Texas for its response and reaction but did not receive a response prior to publication.
