Texas AG Ken Paxton sues doctor for providing transition care to youth; first such suit in nation

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, known for his anti-LGBTQ+ views, has sued a doctor in the state for providing gender-affirming care to young people, the first such suit in the nation.

Paxton filed the suit Thursday in Collin County District Court against May C. Lau, MD, a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and a practitioner at that city's Children's Health Center. He alleges that Lau violated Texas’s law against gender-affirming care for transgender minors by providing cross-sex hormones to at least 21 young people for the purpose of gender transition. He also claims she violated the state’s business and commercial code by engaging in “false, misleading, and deceptive acts and practices to mislead pharmacies, insurance providers, and/or patients by falsifying medical records, prescriptions, and billing records to represent that her testosterone prescriptions are for something other than transitioning a child’s biological sex or affirming a child’s belief that their gender identity is inconsistent with their biological sex,” as the suit puts it.

“Growing scientific evidence strongly suggests that ‘gender transition’ interventions prescribed to or performed on children in an attempt to anatomically or hormonally alter their biological sex characteristics have damaging, long-term consequences,” says a press release from Paxton’s office. “Additionally, the prohibited treatments are experimental, and no scientific evidence supports their supposed benefits.”

This is not true. Such treatments are not considered experimental, and they have been shown to have positive and even lifesaving effects on youth people. This care is supported by every major medical group in the U.S.

“Texas passed a law to protect children from these dangerous unscientific medical interventions that have irreversible and damaging effects,” Paxton said in the release. “Doctors who continue to provide these harmful ‘gender transition’ drugs and treatments will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Children's Health released this statement on the suit: "Our top priority is the health and well being of our patients. Children’s Health follows and adheres to all state health care laws."

The Advocate has also sought comment from UT Southwestern Medical Center and Lau but has not received a response.

Gov. Greg Abbott, like Paxton an anti-LGBTQ+ Republican, signed the ban into law last year. It was recently upheld in court.

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