Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American attorney who has served as the 48th governor of Texas since January 20, 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Abbott previously served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 to 2015. He is the third governor of any U.S. state to permanently use a wheelchair. He is also the first disabled governor in Texas history.
In the latest blow to the health and well-being of transgender children in Texas, Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston has stopped providing hormone therapy to trans children in the wake of Gov.
Greg Abbott’s directive ordering the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate families and health-care professionals who provide such gender-affirming therapy for children, claiming that such care is child abuse.
Texas Tribune reports that a Texas Children’s spokesman acknowledged that the therapy was stopped “to safeguard our healthcare professionals and impacted families from potential criminal legal ramifications.” The Tribune reports added that “it wasn’t immediately clear” what options these young patients have now, and that the spokesperson declined to comment on what doctors are telling patients and what impact that just stopping the treatments will have on these children.
ACLU of Texas and Lambda Legal last week filed suit on behalf of a trans teen and their family and a licensed psychologist against Abbott, DFPS and DFPS Commissioner Jaime Masters as defendants.