The SB14 bill, which is set to become law on September 1st, would ban transgender youth in Texas from access to physician-prescribed hormones and puberty blockers.
The plaintiffs are five Texas families, three medical professionals and two organizations representing hundreds of families and health professionals across the state. ACLU of Texas attorney Brian Klosterboer says SB 14 violates parental rights.
"Transgender Texans, like all Texans, have the right to get the medical care they need. SB 14 is a textbook example of discrimination since it bans evidence-based medical care for transgender youth while allowing any other young person in Texas to get the same treatment."
One of the plaintiffs is moving. Mary Moe, the mother of a nine-year-old transgender girl writes, "I am temporarily relocating out of state with her and my other child. Her father will stay behind to continue working in Texas. We all intend to return and reunite in our home once it is safe for Maeve to receive this care in the state. I am heartbroken to have to take my children away from their home and their father, even temporarily. But I know that Texas is not a safe place for my daughter if this law forbids her access to this care."
Such bans are opposed by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The lawsuit was filed in state court and relies on arguments that have kept similar laws from taking effect in other states.
At least 20 states have adopted laws to ban some gender-affirming care for minors. Half of those laws are not in effect, either because they were passed so recently that they haven't yet kicked in or, in the case of Arkansas, Indiana and Kentucky, because enforcement has been put on hold by courts.
Suspended Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who faces a Senate impeachment trial in September, had previously opened investigations into transgender care at an Austin hospital.
Last year, Abbott became the first governor to order the investigation of families who were receiving care. The investigations were later halted by a Texas judge.
State Representative Jeff Leach took to twitter and wrote this lawsuit was expected.
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