THE FEDERALIST/ Ashley Bateman-
In Texas, cases are mounting against physicians who broke state law by prescribing puberty blockers and hormones to minors under the guise of “gender affirming care.”
On Oct. 17, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Dr. May Lau, a pediatrician and professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. The suit claims that Lau treated 21 children with hormone blockers after the practice became illegal in the state and then “falsified” medical and billing records and prescriptions to manipulate the appearance of the care she provided.
Less than two weeks later, Paxton filed another suit accusing Dr. Hector Granados, an El Paso-area pediatric endocrinologist and known “gender care” provider, of “harming the health and safety of Texas children.” Paxton’s suit against Granados alleges the physician falsified medical records, prescriptions, and billing records to “intentionally conceal the unlawful conduct in violation” of Texas law.
On Nov. 4 Paxton named a third physician, Dr. M. Brett Cooper, in a lawsuit for allegedly providing “gender transition” drugs to minors after Texas law forbade it.
In a statement, Paxton said that Texas is “cracking down” on physicians who continue to illegally prescribe such drugs to minors and “will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
Paxton has strong legal backing. Both suits hinge on recently passed Texas law SB 14, upheld by the Texas Supreme Court in June 2024. The law states that healthcare providers may not “affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex.” Providers may not prescribe puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children with the intent of altering their expression of gender. If found guilty, physicians face loss of licensure and a potential $1 million fine.
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