Texas Governor Greg Abbott Bans Transition-Related Drugs For Trans Youth

Last Friday, Governor Greg Abbott signed into legislation a bill that stops transgender children from accessing puberty blockers or hormone cocktails purported to treat them.

This new law could be subject to legal challenges before it is in effect as of September 1st.

What Texas law was passed?

The Republican Party of Texas has achieved its legislative priority with the passage of Senate Bill 14.

Sen. Donna Campbell, a Republican from New Braunfels, Texas, penned the legislation that prohibits trans children from having access to puberty blockers and hormone therapies which are supported by many medical organizations despite dozens of children detransitioning after receiving treatment.

It’s controversial as to whether puberty blockers and hormone cocktails constitute “therapy” for children experiencing gender dysphoria.

Minors who are already undergoing these treatments must be taken off them in a medically appropriate way.

Additionally, transition-related surgeries are not allowed for minors.

How did the trans community respond?

In predictable fashion, this policy decision incensed many in the trans community, including Emmett Schelling, executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas, who stated,

“It’s not shocking that this governor would sign SB14 right at the beginning of Pride [Month]; however, this will not stop trans people from continuing to exist with authenticity — as we always have.”

In the United States, one of the most sizable trans populations is located in Texas. Now, this state is among 18 others that have implemented limitations on transition-related drugs and sex-reassignment surgery for underage trans people.

Those advocating for the passage of SB 14 suggest that medical practitioners have taken advantage of a social contagion to convince parents to make decisions for their kids that they may later come to regret.

Supporters of the bill have also questioned the validity of the scientific studies and research that back up transition-related care.

Rep. Tom Oliverson, a Republican from Cypress and the creator of SB 14's House version declared in a tweet that kids in Texas are now legitimately shielded from any dangerous, trial medical and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria.

Oliverson expressed that the bill was written with the expectation of potential lawsuits and he was sure that the law would not be nullified.

On May 18, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas, Lambda Legal, and the Transgender Law Center stated their commitment to legally battle SB 14. Despite this, they have not yet launched a lawsuit.

Legal challenges from some organizations to states' restrictions have been seen before; recently, the DOJ even got involved in a lawsuit against Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care.

How united is the trans community?

Trans youth, their families, and leading medical organizations do not all agree that these medical services are essential for preserving the psychological well-being of this particularly susceptible population.

Hundreds of American Transgender people have detransitioned to reverse the effects of so-called “gender-affirming care” because they decided they wanted to live in alignment with the natural gender they were assigned at birth.

Teens, like Chloe Cole and Helena Kerschner, were determined to detransition after they realized the medical community failed them, but not without losing organs in the process.

GenderGP, a progressive, gender-affirming online clinic, even acknowledged that a 2015 survey on transgender people in the U.S. discovered that 8% out of 28,000 people self-reported some form of detransition.

Allegedly, 62% of those who reported detransition only did so temporarily because of social, financial, and family pressures.

Even, if that’s true– that’s still 2240 Americans who detransitioned at some point, and 851 who did so permanently.

Keep in mind, this study was published in 2015, so the dynamics have certainly changed. Most studies are premature because we will not know the full effects of children and young adults undergoing transition until years later.

However, there are at least hundreds of people who have permanently detransitioned in America, and probably thousands more living in the shadows.

Therefore, it’s disingenuous to assert there’s a consensus of doctors, parents, and children who all want these drugs and surgeries.

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