District attorneys representing five of Texas’ largest counties on Wednesday said they will not treat gender-affirming procedures for transgender youth as « child abuse, » defying a push by …
District attorneys representing five of Texas’ largest counties on Wednesday said they will not treat gender-affirming procedures for transgender youth as « child abuse, » defying a push by the state’s attorney general and governor to target the medical treatments. The news comes a day after an order from Gov. Greg Abbott mandated the state’s child welfare agency treat gender-affirming procedures as « child abuse, » a move with potential legal consequences for both parents of transgender youth and any teacher or other authority figure who interacts with a trans child. The district attorneys said they believe Gov. Abbott’s order — and the legal opinion by Attorney General Ken Paxton on which the order is based — constitute « an egregious invasion of privacy. » « We will enforce the Constitution and will not irrationally and unjustifiably interfere with medical decisions made between children, their parents, and their medical physicians, » said district attorneys representing more than 5 million people, including those in the cities of Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Sugar Land and Corpus Christi. Despite the DAs’ statement, the state’s child welfare agency will still be free to follow Abbott’s directive and launch investigations related to gender-affirming care. But the agency would need to prove its case to a judge who is not bound by Abbott or Paxton’s directives, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
