Texas Supreme Court to Hear Legal Challenge to Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Kids
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texas-supreme-court-to-hear-legal-challenge-to-ban-on-gender-affirming-care-for-kids/ar-BB1hv5mC?ocid=msedgntphdr&cvid=6c9f0f2d87e44c7a8e9d34f938a78b4d&ei=24
Story by William Melhado (30 Jan 2024)
The Texas Supreme Court will hear a legal challenge Tuesday to a new state law banning doctors from prescribing gender-affirming care for transgender youth, a prohibition that a district court judge said was unconstitutional.
After Gov. Greg Abbott signed the measure barring transgender Texas youth from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapies, some of their families filed a lawsuit seeking to block the law from going into effect. They argued the new law violates their parental rights by stopping them from providing medical care for their children and it discriminates against transgender children on the basis of sex.
After a Travis County district court temporarily blocked the law from going into effect, arguing that it infringed on Texas parents' right to make medical decisions about their children, a state appeal to the Texas Supreme Court enabled the law to go into effect in September.
Republican lawmakers last year passed Senate Bill 14, which restricts doctors and hospitals from administering puberty blockers and hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria — a dissonance some people feel between their sex assigned at birth and their gender identity. The law was part of a broader coalition of bills that LGBTQ+ advocates say have targeted their community.