Texas Supreme Court keeps ban on age limit to qualify for transgender surgeries and care

The Texas Supreme Court declined to change a state law banning transgender healthcare for youths on Friday, blocking a legal challenge in an 8-1 ruling.

The decision goes against some families' pleas that the law violates their right to medical care for their children.

“We conclude the Legislature made a permissible, rational policy choice to limit the types of available medical procedures for children, particularly in light of the relative nascency of both gender dysphoria and its various modes of treatment and the Legislature’s express constitutional authority to regulate the practice of medicine,” Justice Rebeca Aizpuru Huddle wrote in the court’s decision.

The Texas law prevents minors who identify as transgender from accessing hormone therapies, puberty blockers, and transition surgeries. Children who had already started the medications that are now banned are to be weaned off in a “medically appropriate” manner.

“The State’s categorical statutory prohibition prevents these parents, and many others, from developing individualized treatment plans for their children in consultation with their physicians, even the children for whom treatment could be lifesaving,” Justice Debra Lehrmann wrote in a dissenting opinion. “The law is not only cruel — it is unconstitutional.”

Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) agreed with the decision, saying: "We will always defend children in Texas from these irreversible procedures. My office will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that doctors and medical institutions follow the law."

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas opposed the decision.

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"To trans youth: You belong here," the group's post on X said. "We’ll never stop working for a Texas where you feel safe and free to be exactly who you are."

"By failing to protect access to this life-saving care, Texas has placed trans youth, their families, and the medical professionals who care for them in harm’s way. Trans youth are loved, supported, and worthy of the same rights as their peers," the ACLU of Texas said.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) signed the law into effect last year to the dismay of organizations such as the ACLU, and the groups supported a lawsuit that was filed against the law soon after.