Parents, medical professionals, teachers, even neighbors could all face “criminal penalties” – not just for allowing or participating in medical care for trans youth, but for not reporting to state authorities any knowledge of medical care, Abbott warned, as NBC News reports.
On Monday Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton declared he has interpreted Texas law to deem nationally-recognized medical care for transgender youth “child abuse.”
U.S. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine, who is a pediatrician and a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry. “Our nation’s leading pediatricians support evidence-based, gender affirming care for transgender young people. HHS stands with transgender youth and their medical providers.”
“Republican governors and legislators have targeted innocent children solely aiming to exist as their truest selves,” Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement. “Medical experts have reaffirmed the reality that gender-affirming care saves lives. But instead, Governor Abbott is cynically using Texas children as a political weapon and perpetuating senseless hatred towards the transgender and gender non-conforming community.”
GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Elllis says, “Texas leaders should listen to the experts instead of deciding they know what’s best for families. Every major U.S. medical association supports affirming healthcare for transgender youth. Healthcare is just that—care, and to suggest that trans youth should be separated from their families sends a terrifying and alarming message to kids and parents not just in Texas, but nationwide.
“Our research found that gender-affirming hormone therapy has been linked to lower rates of depression and suicide risk among trans youth who wanted it,” Amit Paley, CEO and executive director of LGBTQ advocacy group The Trevor Project, said in a statement to ABC News.