Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs bill banning transgender surgery for minors

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law on Friday a bill which bans transgender surgeries for minors. 

The bill forbids health care providers from performing gender-affirming surgery on anyone under the age of 18. It goes into effect September 1.  

The bill includes some exceptions for minors who have received non-surgical gender-affirming care before June 1, 2023, and have undergone 12 or more sessions of counseling at least six months before going on prescription drug care.

Senate Bill 14 passed the legislature last month, and groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and Transgender Law Center vowed to file a legal challenge to the bill if it got signed. 

Texas lawmakers “are hellbent on joining the growing roster of states determined to jeopardize the health and lives of transgender youth, in direct opposition to the overwhelming body of scientific and medical evidence supporting this care as appropriate and necessary,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas wrote in a statement.

“Transgender youth in Texas deserve the support and care necessary to give them the same chance to thrive as their peers," the statement continued.

Abbott had issued an order last year stating that medical treatment of transgender minors should be investigated as child abuse. 

Other states that have also banned gender-affirming surgery for minors include Nebraska, Oklahoma and North Dakota.