This article was produced through the NPR NextGen/Texas Observer Print Scholars program, a new collaboration designed to offer mentorship and hands-on training to student journalists and recent graduates interested in a career in investigative journalism.
Texas lawmakers did not end up passing any of the record number of anti-trans bills filed this session, but the threat of such legislation is enough to limit the services that Bhavik Kumar is able to offer his patients. Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, where Kumar, a physician, directs primary and trans care, has yet to expand hormone replacement therapy to patients under the age of 18. He says this is in part because of proposed bans on such care for minors, which would potentially interrupt long-term procedures. That means the specter of anti-trans legislation year after year effectively has the same impact as the bills would if they were passed.
“Before the [legislative] session started, even thinking about starting to expand our services to folks that are younger than 18 was sort of put on hold because we weren’t sure how things were going to transpire,” Kumar says. “And so even if we did begin to offer these services, is this something they’re going to target again in two years? Probably.”
