Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the Biden administration over a federal guidance that he says conflicts with his opinion that certain gender-affirming procedures for transgender minors constitute child abuse under state law.
In a news release Wednesday, Paxton wrote than an earlier lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was amended in order to challenge the new guidance.
“In response to my opinion ruling protecting our children from abuse, Joe Biden is trying to illegally legislate a new radical form of child abuse in Texas. Once again, I’m suing Biden & his admin because these radical actions & lawlessness will not stand in the Lone Star State,” Paxton wrote in a tweet announcing the lawsuit.
On March 2, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a guidance stating that health care providers that report families for seeking gender-affirming care may be doing so in violation of federal law and may be subject to investigation. Texas could stand to lose more than a billion dollars in federal funding.
“Section 1557 protects the right of individuals to access the health programs and activities of recipients of federal financial assistance without facing discrimination on the basis of sex, which includes discrimination on the basis of gender identity,” the guidance reads. “Categorically refusing to provide treatment to an individual based on their gender identity is prohibited discrimination. Similarly, federally-funded covered entities restricting an individual’s ability to receive medically necessary care, including gender-affirming care, from their health care provider solely on the basis of their sex assigned at birth or gender identity likely violates Section 1557.”
Following the release of Paxton’s opinion, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a directive that instructs the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate some gender-affirming care procedures for transgender children as child abuse.
The directive prompted a lawsuit by the Texas ACLU seeking to block the investigation of one Texas family with a transgender teenager. Paxton filed an appeal, but on Wednesday that appeal was dismissed by the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals.
The appeals court's decision clears the way for the judge to hold a hearing on whether to issue a broader temporary order blocking enforcement of Abbott’s directive.
The governor’s directive and Paxton’s opinion go against the nation’s largest medical groups, including the American Medical Association, which have opposed Republican-backed restrictions on transgender people filed in statehouses nationwide. A federal judge last year blocked an Arkansas law prohibiting gender-confirming care for minors, and the state is appealing that decision.
President Joe Biden last week condemned Abbott’s directive and announced steps his administration was taking to protect transgender youth and their families in the state.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.