Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) recently sent a letter asking the Department of Family and Protective Services to determine whether transgender surgery for young people is child abuse.
"The department came back and put out a letter responding to Governor Abbott's inquiries, saying that genital mutilation of a child through reassignment surgery is child abuse, and it's subject to all the rules and procedures that pertain to child abuse," Jonathan Covey, director of policy for Texas Values, details.
How that will change things is unknown, but medical office, daycare, and school staff would have to report the abuse to the authorities. Regardless, Covey says the agency's response does not do enough to protect children.
"Providing puberty-blocking medication, cross-sex hormones to minors is profoundly unethical not only to the child, but it's also profoundly unethical for medical providers," the policy director asserts. "The guidelines that are being put out there by medical associations to treat things like gender dysphoria come from really a faulty philosophical anthropology."
Since the Texas Legislature is currently in a special session, Texas Values hopes Governor Abbott will add this subject to the agenda.
