A children’s hospital in Houston, Texas has stopped providing hormone therapy to transgender children following GOP Gov. Greg Abbott’s order directing the state to open child abuse investigations into the parents of minors recieving “gender-affirming” health care.
Local CBS-affiliated outlet KHOU reported that a spokesperson for Texas Children’s Hospital wrote in a statement that “this step was taken to safeguard our healthcare professionals and impacted families from potential criminal legal ramifications.”
Last week, I reported how the investigations are being carried out by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. The New York Times wrote that “among the first to be investigated was an employee of the state protective services agency who has a 16-year-old transgender child.” The ACLU of Texas went to court to attempt to stop the inquiry.
KHOU wrote that it’s not “immediately clear” regarding “what alternative options transgender patients of the hospital have.”
“The spokesperson declined to comment on the medical guidance doctors were providing to patients, what impact halting the treatment will have on patients, what impact halting the treatment will have on patients or when the hospital expects to resume hormone therapies," the report stated.
In Rebecca’s interview with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) last week, he stated that “sex-change procedures, puberty blockers, and hormone therapies” are “abuse” under Texas law when they are performed on children.
“They’re illegal,” Paxton said in the interview. “And family courts, family-law government agencies, and the like must do their part to stop it.”
In President Biden’s State of the Union address last week, he mentioned the issue as he pushed the Equality Act.
“The onslaught of state laws targeting transgender Americans and their families is wrong. As I said last year, especially to our younger transgender Americans, I will always have your back as your President,” Biden said.
On Wednesday, the White House issued a statement on Texas’ investigation into the parents of “transgender youth,” calling it a “cynical and dangerous campaign” and “government overreach at its worst.”
“These procedures are monstrous and tragic,” Paxton wrote in a tweet late last month. “I’ll do everything I can to protect against those who take advantage of and harm young Texans.”