Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General, speaks with the media after oral arguments were heard by the United States Supreme Court to determine whether the controversial Florida and Texas social media laws, which prohibits platforms from suspending the accounts of political candidates or media publications, can stand on February 26, 2024, in Washington, DC. Their decision has far reaching implications for the role that states can play in regulating the tech industry.
Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton says he's suing another North Texas doctor for illegally providing 'gender transition' drugs to more than a dozen minors.
In a statement Friday, the AG's office said Senate Bill 14 is a Texas law that took effect in September 2023 and prohibits doctors from illegally prescribing 'gender transition' drugs to children.
Paxton said he recently sued a Dallas-area doctor and another doctor in El Paso who provided prohibited medical interventions such as surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones to children as young as 12.
It was reported that in this case, the doctor proceeded to knowingly provide the prohibited interventions to minors up until approximately Sep. 25. The attorney general said the Dallas-based doctor allegedly engaged in false and misleading acts to intentionally conceal the illegal conduct by falsifying several medical records, prescriptions, and billing records.
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Paxton's office did not identify the doctor targeted in his lawsuit.
"Texas has prohibited doctors from prescribing these damaging and unfounded 'gender transition' drugs to children," Attorney General Paxton said. "These medical professionals cannot willfully ignore the law and endanger the health of young people."
In their statement, Paxton's office claimed, "Growing scientific evidence strongly suggests that 'gender transition' interventions prescribed to or performed on children in an attempt to anatomically or hormonally alter their biological sex characteristics have damaging, long-term consequences. Additionally, the prohibited interventions are experimental, and no scientific evidence supports their supposed benefits."
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The American Medical Association said in 2021 that decisions about medical care belong between patients and their doctors, and for children, that conversation includes their parents. The AMA said in 2021 that they "urged governors to oppose state legislation that would prohibit medically necessary gender transition-related care for minor patients."
In February 2024, the American Psychological Association released a statement affirming their support for health care for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary children, adolescents, and adults.
"Evidence-based clinical care, including gender-affirming care, should be noncoercive, adaptive to and centered on the needs of the individual receiving care, and rooted in psychological and clinical science, including recognition of gender diversity as a part of normal human diversity as well as recognition of limits in the current state of scientific knowledge
Paxton's office said medical providers who violate Senate Bill 14 are liable for penalties, including having their medical license or authorization to practice medicine revoked by the Texas Medical Board.
