Texas Supreme Court Justice Slams Transgender Ruling
Supreme Court justice dissented on Friday against the all-Republican court's recent ruling to uphold the state's ban on gender-affirming care for minors.Texas is among the 25 states that have passed laws or policies banning gender-affirming care in those under the age of 18.
Texas' ban, passed in May 2023, prohibits health care providers from providing certain procedures and treatments for gender transitioning, gender assignment or gender dysphoria.
It also prohibits the use of public money or assistance to provide said procedures and treatments.In an 8-1 decision on Friday, the Texas Supreme Court overturned a lower court's ruling to block the ban while it is legally challenged.
The court's majority wrote in its ruling that, "We conclude the Legislature made a permissible, rational policy choice to limit the types of available medical procedures for children, particularly in light of the relative nascency of both gender dysphoria and its various modes of treatment and the Legislature's express constitutional authority to regulate the practice of medicine."Justice Debra Lehrmann, the sole judge to dissent the court's ruling, wrote in her opinion, "While I agree that the Legislature has the general authority to regulate the practice of medicine, that authority is necessarily limited by the promises and protections of our Constitution; in fact, limiting the State's intrusion into private action is the very reason for the Bill of Rights."Lehrmann added: "Thus, even when the Legislature exercises its delegated powers, it does so subject to the constitutional rights of citizens—not the other way around.
