The Texas Senate has approved legislation to ban gender mutilation for children, but not before making a significant change to limit its effect.
Senate Bill 14 by State Sen. Donna Campbell (R–New Braunfels) as filed would prohibit medical providers from performing “gender transition” surgeries or prescribing cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to children under the age of 18 suffering from gender dysphoria.
It would also require the Texas Medical Board to strip the license of any physician who provides these treatments, and would prohibit the use of public funds for these procedures or drugs.
Campbell amended the bill with a grandfather clause on Wednesday, however, to allow children currently receiving puberty blockers and hormones to continue if they begin taking them by June 3, 90 days prior to when the law goes into effect.
Chris Hopper, the president of the Texas Family Project, told Texas Scorecard that while he was glad to see the bill passed, he would have liked to see it without the amendment.
“Buckle up and prepare for every pro-trans organization and affiliate to funnel kids into clinics all across the state in order to obtain their prescription puberty blockers, medications that will cause irreversible damage in the lives of the most troubled members of our society,” said Hopper. “The passing of SB 14 is a tremendous win, but when lawmakers add additions that will flood the system with young students who will be now be rushed into these puberty blocking programs, I shake my head in disgust.”
Despite the addition, Campbell was still forced to fend off attacks from Democrat colleagues who have vocally opposed the efforts.
“Delusion is simply a false belief about an external reality that, despite evidence to the contrary, they still hold. Here, delusion has been given a polite term: gender dysphoria,” said Campbell.
The chamber gave initial approval to the bill on a party-line vote of 19-12 on Wednesday, the same day they also passed a bill to prevent biological men from competing in women’s collegiate sports.
The gender mutilation bill will receive one more vote on Thursday before being sent to the House, where similar efforts were killed in 2021.
