Gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender kids would be considered child abuse under Texas

[TexasTowelie]

Gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender kids would be considered child abuse under Texas Senate bill

by Megan Munce, Texas Tribune


The Texas Senate passed a bill Tuesday in an 18-12 vote that would classify providing gender affirming health care to transgender minors as child abuse — just one of the Legislature’s many attempts to prevent transgender children from transitioning before their 18th birthday.

Senate Bill 1646 is among several other bills that advocacy groups say erode the rights of transgender Texans. Authored by Lubbock Republican Sen. Charles Perry, it amends the definition of abuse under Texas Family Code to include administering or consenting to a child’s use of puberty suppression treatment, hormones or surgery for the purpose of gender transitioning.

But it’s unclear what the legislation’s chances are in the House, where another major bill targeting transgender children appears to have stalled.

In a Senate committee hearing, SB 1646 attracted over four-and-a-half hours of public testimony from LGBTQ Texans, their parents and several state and national medical associations opposing the bill’s intrusion into intimate medical decisions. Social workers also testified the bill could put more transgender children into the foster care system, where they face elevated rates of suicide and depression.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/27/texas-senate-transgender-child-abuse/