Child Abuse Ruling

To the Editor:

Attorney General Paxton recently released a 13-page legal opinion classifying transgender operations, puberty blocker drugs and sterilizing cross-sex hormones as child abuse. District Attorneys from Travis Co., Dallas Co., Bexar Co., Nueces Co., and Fort Bend Co. have released statements similar to the Harris County Attorney opposing Paxton’s opinion. The Harris County Attorney said, “As lawyers handling these cases, we’ll continue to follow the laws on the books— not Attorney General Paxton’s politically motivated and incorrect opinion.”

What does the law really say? According to a letter from Gov. Abbott to Texas Dept. of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) Commissioner, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has confirmed that a number of so-called “sex change” procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law. “It is already against the law to subject Texas children to a wide variety of elective procedures for gender transitioning, including reassignment surgeries that can cause sterilization, mastectomies, removals of otherwise healthy body parts, and administration of puberty-blocking drugs or supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or estrogen.”

There are reporting requirements for licensed professionals and members of the general public and criminal penalties for not reporting suspected abuses.

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.

To protect Texas children from abuse, DFPS and all other state agencies must follow the law as explained in OAG Opinion No. KP-0401.

If I understand the situation correctly, there are already laws on the books that define “sex change procedures” as child abuse and the courts job is to provide protection (for the minor) and not reinterpret the law to meet an LGBTQ agenda.

Since the law states that a minor (under legal age) “hasn’t the emotional wherewithal to make a decision regarding sex,” how does a minor have the wherewithal to make a decision about a sex change?

According to Karine Jean-Pierre, White House deputy press secretary, “Conservative officials in Texas and other states across the country should stop inserting themselves into health care decisions that create needless tension between pediatricians and their patients. No parent should face the agony of a politician standing in the way of accessing lifesaving care for their child.” Is avoiding puberty, a confusing and often very difficult time but a normal part of the physical maturation process, by going through a sex change procedure considered “life-saving?”

Cindy Rodibaugh

Flatonia