Texas Department of Family Protective Services bekreftet at de vil undersøke tilfeller av barn som gjennomgår en “kjønnskorrigerende” behandling. Det skriver Lifesitenews.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed all state agencies to consider transgender drugs and surgeries for minors as illegal child abuse after an opinion from state Attorney General Ken Paxton declared that the practices violate Texas law.
In a letter Tuesday, Abbott also ordered the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to launch investigations into “any reported instances of Texas children being subjected to abusive gender-transitioning procedures,” the governor’s office said.
Abbott’s directive noted that state law requires all licensed professionals who come into direct contact with children, including medical professionals and teachers, to report child abuse or face criminal punishment. “Texas law also imposes a duty on DFPS to investigate the parents of a child who is subjected to these abusive gender-transitioning procedures, and on other state agencies to investigate licensed facilities where such procedures may occur,” the governor added.
Abbott CC’d the letter to various state agencies, including Texas Education Agency and the Health and Human Services Commission. The directive affirmed that “DFPS and all other state agencies must follow the law as explained in [Attorney General Paxton’s opinion].”
The move comes after one day after Paxton announced in an advisory opinion that transgender “sex change” practices for minors constitute child abuse under the Texas Family Code, which prohibits physical, mental, and emotional injuries to a child.
Paxton’s opinion applies to genital mutilation surgeries, mastectomies, and any other procedures that involve “removing from children otherwise healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue,” as well as transgender hormone drugs, such as puberty blockers.
“Each of the ‘sex change’ procedures and treatments enumerated above, when performed on children, can legally constitute child abuse” under state law, the Republican attorney general wrote. “When considering questions of child abuse, a court would likely consider the fundamental right to procreation, issues of physical and emotional harm associated with these procedures and treatments, consent laws in Texas and throughout the country, and existing child abuse standards.”
“The Texas Family Code is clear — causing or permitting substantial harm to the child or the child’s growth and development is child abuse. Courts have held that an unnecessary surgical procedure that removes a healthy body part from a child can constitute a real and significant injury or damage to the child,” Paxton continued.
Paxton said Monday that there’s “no doubt that these procedures are ‘abuse’ under Texas law, and thus must be halted,” adding that DFPS “has the responsibility to act accordingly.”
