Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill into law banning life-altering transgender procedures on children the state.
Texas is now the largest state that will protect children from irreversible transgender procedures.
The bill, SB 14, will now ban puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones given to children, and surgical procedures such as a double mastectomy for girls who identify as boys.
The bill also prohibits state dollars from being used to fund such procedures on kids.
“If there comes a time when a profession such as the medical profession cannot regulate itself to protect patients — protect children — then the government needs to step in,” said the author of the bill, Senator Donna Campbell.
“Our children need counseling and love, not blades and drugs,” she added.
The Lone Star State joins at least 18 other states which have banned transgender surgeries for minors,
The Texas law states that procedures are prohibited “for the purpose of transitioning a child’s biological sex as determined by the sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous profiles of the child or affirming the child’s perception of the child’s sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex.”
The legislation took faced roadblocks from Democrats who used parliamentary tactics to stall it.
However, Democrat Rep. Shawn Thierry voted for the bill, citing scientific evidence showing the long-term impacts of transgender procedures on children.
In a statement, Thierry said they voted to ban children from receiving “GnRH-analogs (i.e., “puberty blockers”), cross-sex hormones, and to undergo irreversible surgeries when experiencing gender dysphoria” after speaking with constituents and “reviewing the scientific data in this country and around the globe.”
Meanwhile, left-wing legal groups, including the ACLU of Texas and Lambda Legal, vowed to take legal action against the Texas law.
“Transgender people have always been here and will always be here,” said Ash Hall of the ACLU of Texas.
“Our trans youth deserve a world where they can shine alongside their peers, and we will keep advocating for that world in and out of the courts.”
The bill’s signing comes after reports of a Houston children’s hospital performing transgender procedures on children as young as 11 years old.
According to whistleblower documents, the Texas Children’s Hospital inserted an implantable puberty blocker in multiple children.
READ: Health Centre Begins Asking Parents If Their Newborns Are Transgender or Non-Binary
As a Texan, I am glad to see this accomplished.
If Texas can band transgender procedures against children then why can’t they ban illegal aliens from entering Texas? Passing this law would give the state authorities and the Texas Rangers the ability to stop, check and arrest, then deport. Texas has a duty to protect its citizens from illegals crossing its borders. You don’t need to to bow down to the primacy clause in the US Constitution if the US isn’t going to protect Texas citizens. The governor of Texas has a Texas Constitutional duty to protect its citizens. That is the governor’s first and foremost duty as head of state.