(UnitedHeadlines.com) – The Texas state Senate voted in favor of a bill that will ban transgender children from receiving puberty-blocking and hormone treatments, as well as surgeries.
The bill passed on May 17 in a 19-12 vote in the Senate after passing the Texas State House on May 15. Before it passed in the Texas State House, the vote was delayed on procedural grounds by opponents of the legislation. Once passed, it was returned to the Texas State Senate which voted to concur with the House version passed. The bill heads to the desk of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.
The bill, Senate Bill 14, prohibits surgeries that sterilize or remove healthy body parts and tissue from minors, as well as mastectomies. The bill also prohibits drugs that induce permanent or transient infertility from being prescribed to minors.
The bill allows for a health care provider’s license to be revoked if this health care is provided to minors. It gives Texas attorney general Ken Paxton enforcement authority.
An exemption for transgender children who were receiving medical treatment before the bill passed was included in the bill. Though, over an unspecified period of time, the bill requires those patients to be “weaned” off the medications.
Those who support the legislation feel that the treatments are “mutilation.”
Those who oppose the legislation feel that the legislation is an assault on the transgender community and that it prevents children from receiving the care needed to address those suffering from gender dysphoria.
Once the bill is signed by Abbott, the legislation will go into effect Sept. 1.
Texas joins 14 other states that have passed legislation restricting medical treatments for transgender children.
This is not the only bill involving gender identity in the Texas Legislature. The Texas State House voted on May 17 in favor of a bill that requires athletes attending public colleges to compete in sports based on the gender assigned on their birth certificate when they were born.
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