Texas governor directs state agencies to investigate gender-affirming care for trans youths as 'chil

Source: Washington Post

Texas governor directs state agencies to investigate gender-affirming care for trans youths as ‘child abuse’

By Julian Mark
February 23, 2022 at 6:49 a.m. EST

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) directed state agencies this week to conduct “prompt and thorough” investigations into the use of gender-affirming care for transgender children, a move that follows an opinion from the state attorney general that such treatments are a form of “child abuse.”

In a letter Tuesday to the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services, Abbott cited an opinion issued Friday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) stating that certain gender-affirming treatments for transgender children — including gender reassignment surgery and puberty-blocking medications — “can legally constitute child abuse under several provisions” of state law.

Abbott wrote that the protective services agency “is responsible for protecting children from abuse,” adding in a tweet Tuesday that the agency will “refer for prosecution any such abuse.”

The Department of Family and Protective Services did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post late Tuesday on whether it would follow the directive. A spokesperson for the agency told the Dallas Morning News that it “will follow Texas law as explained (by Paxton’s opinion),” adding that it had no pending investigations.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/02/23/greg-abbott-gender-affirming-care-child-abuse-directive/

Non-paywalled link: https://wapo.st/3JKMlHq