Texas Attorney Sues Biden Administration Over Gender-Affirming Care Guidance

One of the most recent developments surrounding the state’s push for anti-trans legislation, Texas republicans are suing the Biden administration. Following the administration’s guidance that supports transgender and nonbinary youth to have access to gender-affirming care, the state is losing over $1 million in federal funds, and leaders are looking to get that money back.

“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 and his admin because these radical actions & lawlessness will not stand in the Lone Star State,” Attorney General Ken Praxon wrote in a tweet announcing the lawsuit.

In a news release, the state’s Attorney General’s Office says it is suing over the administration’s position that doctors, medical providers, and other medical staff who report “sex change” procedures as “child abuse” may violate federal law even though the state law says that such procedures constitute “child abuse.”  

“The federal government does not have the authority to govern the medical profession and set family policies, including what may constitute child abuse in state family law courts,” Paxton says in the news release. “It is time for the Biden administration to quit forcing their political agenda. This is about the safety of children. It is time to put their wellbeing first.” 

On March 2, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a guidance stating that the Affordable Care Act forbids states from restricting medical care bases in a person’s identity or sex assigned at birth, as a direct response to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s order to investigate parents of trans children who are seeking gender-affirming treatment for “child abuse.”

“The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will continue working to ensure that transgender and gender-nonconforming youth are able to access healthcare free from the burden of discrimination,” the department says.

The HHS guidance states that healthcare providers do not need to disclose information related to a patient’s gender-affirming healthcare. It also explains that it is illegal for health providers to deny service based on a patient’s gender identity. 

In 2020, the federal government gave $1.36 billion in federal funds to the Texas’ Department of State Health Services. More than $26 million went to the State’s Health and Human Services Commission.