Originally published by The 19th.
The Texas Supreme Court found that parents in the state do not have the constitutional right to seek gender-affirming care for their children.
The court on Friday upheld the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth in a ruling that pushed the state’s interpretation of parental rights into a more limited scope when it comes to medical decision-making. Texas parents are guaranteed the right to raise their children without political interference — a right that includes decisions on medical care — but the court deemed restrictions on gender-affirming care to be a permissible exception.
“Fit parents have a fundamental interest in directing the care, custody, and control of their children free from government interference. But we have never defined the source or precise scope of this interest,” the court’s ruling read. “Our precedents make clear that this interest is not absolute.”
The court said using gender-affirming care to treat gender dysphoria is a nascent form of medicine, a finding at odds with the actual history of gender-affirming medical care. It also pointed out that Texas has the right to regulate the practice of medicine within........