Texas Attorney General Ken Paton has issued a legal opinion stating that a Texas state law banning gender-affirming medical care for minors applies to mental healthcare providers licensed by the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council.
The opinion finds that the council’s licensees qualify as healthcare providers under S.B. 14 and are governed by state law barring funds from going to those who facilitate the prohibited “transition” procedures. It also clarifies that the statute applies not only to individuals or entities who “provide” medical interventions, but also to those who “facilitate” such interventions, according to a March 3 news release from the attorney general’s office.
“Any radical facilitating the ‘transitioning’ of our kids is committing child abuse,” Mr. Paxton said in the release. “The law is clear that these radical procedures are illegal and in no world should Texans’ tax dollars be used to permanently harm children.”
According to the opinion summary, licensees that facilitate unlawful procedures or treatments intended to transition a child’s sex are ineligible from receiving public money tied to those efforts and could face license revocation.
