Governor Abbott Directs DFPS To Investigate Sex Reassignment Procedures As ‘Child Abuse'

CBS Dallas/Fort Worth

February 23, 2022

Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter on Tuesday, Feb. 22 to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) directing the agency to investigate any reported instances of minors undergoing sex reassignment procedures or taking hormones as “child abuse.”

This interpretation of the law would also give medical professionals and the general public a “duty to report” any such instances under the penalty of Texas law. The order does not change existing laws, but could potentially change how the DFPS enforces them.

Abbott’s letter comes after the Office of the Attorney General said that a number of sex reassignment procedures and hormone treatments for minors constitute child abuse under Texas law. According to Abbott, the offending treatments include reassignment surgeries, mastectomies, “removals of otherwise healthy body parts,” and administration of puberty-blocking drugs or doses of testosterone or estrogen meant to alter one’s body.

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