Texas has in recent hours prohibited doctors from prescribing hormone blockers or performing gender transition surgeries on minors under 18 years of age. Thus, the governor of the state, Greg Abbot, signed the law on Friday that prohibits medical treatment for transgender minors, making his state the largest in the United States to impose this type of restriction.
Abbott thus follows in the footsteps of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who signed a similar bill in May. And it is that Texas and Florida are respectively the second and third most populous states in the United States and both have made this decision. Along with them, more than a dozen Republican-led states have passed similar bans in recent months. The signed law will enter into force on September 1.
The legislation includes an exception for minors already receiving puberty blockers or hormone therapy, but requires that they "cease taking the prescribed medication for a period of time and in a manner that is safe and medically appropriate."
Transgender rights have become an increasingly hot topic in American politics. Democrats denounce that the measures approved by Texas and Florida violate fundamental rights.
President Joe Biden called in March to remove these regulations, which he called "attacks" and denounced as "un-American." The regulation has also been denounced by several NGOs and on Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas announced that it would file a lawsuit against the state ban. "Abbott cannot stop trans youth from thriving in Texas, and we will take him to court to make sure of it," he wrote in a tweet.
More than half of transgender and non-binary youth in Texas thought about suicide in 2022, according to a survey conducted that year by The Trevor Project, an NGO dedicated to suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
