On April 28, 2022, Yale Law School, the Yale School of Medicine’s Child Study Center and Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, and the University of Texas Southwestern published a report refuting the scientific claims informing measures in Texas that target gender-affirming medical care.
On February 18, 2022, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion taking the position that certain gender-affirming medical procedures constitute child abuse under Texas state law. Governor Abbott then cited this opinion as authority for a directive requiring the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate reports of these “abusive procedures” on February 22, 2022.
The 2022 report, entitled “Biased Science: The Texas and Alabama Measures Criminalizing Medical Treatment for Transgender Children and Adolescents Rely on Inaccurate and Misleading Scientific Statements,” concluded that the medical claims cited in the Texas Attorney-General’s opinion “are not grounded in reputable science and are full of errors of omission and inclusion. These errors, taken together, thoroughly discredit the Attorney-General’s claim that standard medical care for transgender children and adolescents constitutes child abuse.” False claims highlighted in the report include the claim that current medical standards authorize the surgical sterilization of transgender children and adolescents, the omission of the fact that gender-affirming care significantly improves mental health outcomes, and claims of exaggerated risks of gender-affirming drug therapy.