On 22 February, the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, and state attorney general, Ken Paxton, released guidance to the state’s child protection services (CPS) classifying the provision of gender-affirming care to transgender adolescents as child abuse. The guidance threatened criminal penalties for licensed professionals, such as doctors, nurses and teachers, who fail to report suspicions of such “abuse” to the state. The policy’s implementation would also mean potentially removing trans kids from supportive parents and putting them in the state’s foster system.
Considered the standard of care for transgender youth by the major medical associations in the US, gender-affirming care can include medical interventions such as puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapies. (US medical guidelines do not recommend genital surgeries for youth under 18.)
