Breaking: Texas AG Opinion Declares Sex-Change Procedures on Children ‘Child Abuse’
Austin, Texas – Attorney General Ken Paxton released a formal attorney general opinion today concluding that performing certain “sex-change” procedures on children, and prescribing puberty-blockers to them, is child abuse under Texas statutes.
Jonathan Covey, Director of Policy for Texas Values said the following:
“Minors are prohibited from purchasing paint, cigarettes, alcohol, or even getting a tattoo. We cannot allow minors or their parents to make life-altering decisions on body mutilating procedures and irreversible hormonal treatments. This decision affirms commonsense.”
The opinion, requested by Representative Matt Krause, the Chair of the House Committee on General Investigating, specifically asked whether the performance of certain medical and chemical procedures on children such as vasectomies, hysterectomies, phalloplasties, and orchiectomies for gender reassignment purposes constitutes child abuse.
Paxton’s opinion wrote that these procedures “infringe on the child’s fundamental right to procreate” and that the procedures and treatments inquired about “can constitute abuse under Texas Family Code Sec. 261.001(1)(A), (B), (C), or (D).”
The opinion goes on to state that “The medical evidence does not demonstrate that children and adolescents benefit from engaging in these irreversible sterilization procedures” and that “the prevalence of gender dyphoria…has never been estimated, and there is no scientific consensus that these sterilizing procedures and treatments even service to benefit minor children dealing with gender dysphoria.”
This opinion follows Gov. Abbott’s letter in August 2021 to the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) requesting a decision regarding “whether genital mutilation of a child for purposes of gender transitioning through reassignment surgery constitutes child abuse.” In a reply, the DFPS Commissioner confirmed that “Gender mutilation of a child through reassignment surgery is child abuse.”
Texas Values worked during the 87th Texas Legislature to ban gender transition procedures by testifying and supporting HB 1399 by Rep. Krause, and other legislation to accomplish this goal.