Texas Gov. Abbott signed SB 14 banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors

On June 2, 2023, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 14, prohibiting physicians and health-care providers from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy to, or performing transition-related surgery on, anyone under 18 for the purpose of gender transition. The law also barred the use of public money or public assistance, including Medicaid, to pay for such care, and directed the Texas Medical Board to revoke the license of any physician who violated it. Passed by the Republican-controlled 88th Legislature largely along party lines, the measure took effect September 1, 2023.

Because the law contained no exemption for patients already in treatment, minors then receiving care were required to be weaned off it. Texas, home to one of the largest transgender populations in the country, became the most populous of at least 18 states to enact such a ban by mid-2023. Every major U.S. medical organization, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, opposes these bans and recognizes gender-affirming care as medically appropriate treatment for minors.

Updates

2024-06-28 — Texas Supreme Court reversed injunction, upholding SB 14 [4, 5]

In July 2023, five Texas families with transgender children, three medical providers, and two organizational plaintiffs sued to block the law in Loe v. Texas, and a trial court initially enjoined its enforcement. On June 28, 2024, the Texas Supreme Court reversed that injunction in an 8-1 ruling, holding that SB 14 was a constitutional exercise of the Legislature's authority to regulate medical practice and that the plaintiffs could not overcome it. The decision left the ban in effect.