AUSTIN, Texas — A state district court judge has temporarily blocked a Texas law banning transgender youth from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy, the Texas Tribune reported.
In her injunction Friday, Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel wrote that Senate Bill 14 “interferes with Texas families’ private decisions and strips Texas parents … of the right to seek, direct, and provide medical care for their children.”
Editor's note: The above video originally aired on June 11.
“Across the country, countless transgender youth are having their well-being threatened and their lives uprooted by dangerous and unconstitutional bans,” said Elizabeth Gill, an attorney for the ACLU, which represented families and doctors challenging the Texas ban.
Almost immediately, the state filed an appeal to the Texas Supreme Court to keep its new restrictions on track to take effect Sept. 1. In a statement, the Texas attorney general's office said it would “continue to enforce the laws duly enacted by the Texas Legislature and uphold the values of the people of Texas.”
Texas lawmakers passed SB 14 during this year’s regular legislative session, in addition to several other pieces of legislation affecting the lives of LGBTQ+ people.
Texas families and doctors sued the state in July with the hope of blocking the law. They argued SB 14 violates the Texas Constitution because it strips parents’ right to make decisions about their child’s health care. They also said it would have devastating consequences for transgender children and teens who would be denied treatment recommended by their physicians and parents.
More than 20 states have adopted laws to ban some gender-affirming care for minors, although some are not yet in effect or have been put on hold by courts. Many of them prevent transgender minors from accessing hormone therapies, puberty blockers and transition surgeries, even though medical experts say such surgical procedures are rarely performed on children.