Texas Supreme Court allows ban on gender affirming care for minors

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday upheld a state law that bans gender-affirming care for transgender minors, including access to puberty blockers, and transition surgery.

The state is one of over two dozen Republican states to ban the treatments, according to The Hill. The ruling comes the same week that the United States Supreme Court said it would weigh in on the issue in its next session.

The state Supreme Court said in its 8-1 majority opinion that the ruling was specifically about whether the state law was constitutional, not what treatment a minor who suffers from "gender dysphoria" should have.

“We conclude the legislature made a permissible, rational policy choice to limit the types of available medical procedures for children, particularly in light of the relative nascency of both gender dysphoria and its various modes of treatment and the Legislature’s express constitutional authority to regulate the practice of medicine,” Justice Rebeca Aizpuru Huddle wrote.

The ruling comes after a group of LGBTQ rights advocates, parents of transgender minors, and medical providers sued the state over the law last year. A liberal Texas District Judge approved an injunction while the lawsuit played out in courts, claiming the state law likely infringed on the rights of parents to make health care decisions for their children.

Critics of the state ban claimed the ruling was "needlessly cruel," and vowed to keep fighting for transgender rights in the conservative state.

“The court’s decision to reject safe and affirming care will have lasting impacts on all people in Texas,” Lynly Egyes, legal director at Transgender Law Center, said in a statement. “All Texans, no matter what they look like or the neighborhood they live in, should know that we will continue to work alongside our partners to fight for the rights of trans Texans and their families.”