Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered multiple agencies to investigate reports of kids receiving transgender treatment as child abuse.
In a letter to the Department of Family and Protective Services sent Tuesday, obtained by the Dallas Morning News, Abbott reiterated that the agency “is responsible for protecting children from abuse.”
“Consistent with our correspondence in August 2021, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has now confirmed in the enclosed opinion that a number of so-called ‘sex change’ procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law. Because the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is responsible for protecting children from abuse, I hereby direct your agency to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas,” the letter said.
Abbott noted that it is against the law to subject Texas children to a wide variety of elective procedures for gender transitioning, including reassignment surgeries that can cause sterilization, mastectomies, removals of otherwise healthy body parts, and administration of puberty-blocking drugs or supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or estrogen.
“Texas law imposes reporting requirements upon all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers, and provides criminal penalties for failure to report such child abuse,” Abbott continued.
The letter was also sent to the Health and Human Services Commission, Texas Medical Board, and Texas Education Agency. It came one day after Attorney General Ken Paxton released an opinion saying that transgender treatments on children constitute child abuse.
Several liberal district attorneys have said they will not enforce the law.
“My office will not participate in these bad faith political games,” Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee said in a statement released on Tuesday. “As the lawyers handling these cases, we owe a duty of candor to the courts about what the law really says. We’ll continue to follow the laws on the books — not General Paxton’s politically motivated and legally incorrect ‘opinion.’”
The Dallas Morning News reports:
The Travis District and County Attorneys echoed Menefee sentiments.
“The Republican leadership of this state is trying to turn loving and supportive parents into criminals, and this office will play no part in it,” County Attorney Delia Garza told The News.
The office of District Attorney Jose Garza confirmed they will likewise decline to prosecute any cases based on Paxton’s guidance.
Dallas officials have not yet commented.
Texas Attorney General Paxton has recently announced an investigation into two pharmaceutical companies that allegedly promote the use of hormone-blocking drugs for children.
The drugs are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for this purpose.
Paxton’s office is looking into whether or not Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and AbbVie Inc. violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by promoting using the medications Supprelin LA and Lupron Depot for kids whose parents allege that they are transgender.
According to a press release from the Attorney General, “Supprelin LA and Lupron Depot are approved to treat children with Central Precocious Puberty (CPP), when the puberty process begins prematurely. And Vantas, along with other forms of Lupron, has been prescribed for palliative treatment of prostate cancer. These drugs are now being used to treat gender dysphoria even though they are not approved for such use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Gender dysphoria is a diagnosed mental disorder in which a person experiences significant distress related to a strong desire to be of another biological sex.”
“The manufacture, sale, prescription, and use of puberty blockers on young teens and minors is dangerous and reckless,” Attorney General Paxton said in the statement. “These drugs were approved for very different purposes and can have detrimental and even irreversible side effects. I will not allow pharmaceutical companies to take advantage of Texas children.”