Republican lawmakers in Texas have passed a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. The bill now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who’s expected to sign it into law.
The state’s GOP-controlled voted 19-12 to approve Senate Bill 14 Wednesday night, despite fierce opposition from Democrats. The state House, also controlled by Republicans, passed the legislation earlier this week on an 87-46 vote.
The vote comes just over a year after Abbott ordered state agencies to conduct a “prompt and thorough” investigation into gender-affirming care for transgender youth, threatening legal consequences and criminal penalties for those who failed to report what he called child “abuse.”
Gender-affirming care is considered “a supportive form of health care” that improves “the mental health and overall well-being of gender-diverse children and adolescents,” according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It’s also backed by nearly all major medical associations in the U.S.
If Abbott signs SB 14 into law, Texas would become the 18th state to enact a similar ban. Providing gender-affirming care for trans youth is a felony crime in five states, according to the nonprofit Movement Advancement Project.
Texas’ ban would be the latest example of GOP lawmakers who using trans rights issues to appeal to socially conservative voters during a record-breaking year in anti-LGBTQ legislation.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, more than 520 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures so far this year. Over 220 of those specifically restrict the rights of transgender and nonbinary people, and a record number prevent youth from accessing gender-affirming care — an effort described by President Joe Biden as “hateful and extreme state laws” that are being advanced by “MAGA extremists.”
SB14 is “vicious,” “cruel,” and “blatantly unconstitutional,” Ash Hall, policy and advocacy strategist at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said in a statement earlier this week. “The bigotry and discrimination in this bill will not stand up in court and it will not stand the test of time.”
On Thursday, national and state organizations announced plans to sue Abbott if he signs the ban into law.
“[Republican lawmakers in Texas] 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,” read a joint statement signed by the ACLU, its Texas affiliate, Lambda Legal, and the Transgender Law Center.
“We will defend the rights of transgender youth in court, just as we have done in other states engaging in this anti-science and discriminatory fear-mongering,” the group added.
Earlier this month hundreds of civil rights and LGBTQ advocates gathered at the Texas Capitol to protest against SB 14. One prominent trans rights activist said she was forcibly removed — and subsequently banned for a year — for displaying a banner in support of trans kids during a protest on Tuesday.
Two other protesters were also arrested, The Texas Tribune reported.