ACLU Sues Abbott Over Directive To Investigate Transgender Procedures As Child Abuse

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and Lambda Legal have filed a lawsuit over Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s direction to investigate sex reassignment procedures in children. 

The lawsuit come on behalf of two parents listed as John Doe and Jane Doe, along with their child, Mary Doe, who is a 16 year-old minor. A physician, Dr. Megan Mooney, is also a plaintiff in the suit. Jane Doe is an employee of the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS).

Jane Doe was put on leave from her job and a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigator already went to the Doe home in order to interview the family. 

The lawsuit noted: 

The CPS investigator disclosed that the sole allegation against Jane Doe and John Doe is that they have a transgender daughter and that their daughter may have been provided with medically necessary gender-affirming health care and is “currently transitioning from male to female.” 

The defendants are listed as Governor Abbott, Jaime Masters, who is the Commissioner of the Texas DFPS, as well as the DFPS.

The lawsuit alleges that “Governor Abbott’s letter instructing DFPS to investigate the families of transgender children is entirely without Constitutional or statutory authority; and despite this, the Commissioner nonetheless issued a statement directing DFPS to carry out the Governor’s wishes and agreeing to follow a nonbinding legal opinion that did not change Texas law.”

The suit explains that “Dr. Megan Mooney is a clinical psychologist and mandated reporter under Texas law. She has a practice based in Houston, Texas that includes transgender patients, many of whom have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and are receiving treatment for this condition.”

It adds that “The Governor’s directive and DFPS implementation have placed Dr. Mooney in an untenable situation,” noting that if she “fails to report her clients who receive gender-affirming care, she faces the prospect of civil and criminal penalties, the loss of her license, and other severe consequences.”

However, it added, “if she does follow the Governor’s letter and DFPS’ erroneous reliance on it, she faces even more damaging personal and professional consequences,” stating that “Dr. Mooney would be violating her professional standards of ethics and inflict serious harm and trauma on her clients.”

As The Daily Wire reported, in a recent letter, Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas DFPS to investigate specific “so-called ‘sex change’ procedures” found to “constitute child abuse under existing Texas law.” Abbott referred to an opinion by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

“[I]t is already against the law to subject Texas children to a wide variety of elective procedures for gender transitioning, including reassignment surgeries that can cause sterilization, mastectomies, removals of otherwise healthy body parts, and administration of puberty-blocking drugs or supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or estrogen,” Abbott wrote. 

“Texas law imposes reporting requirements upon all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers, and provides criminal penalties for failure to report such child abuse,” he continued. “There are similar reporting requirements and criminal penalties for members of the general public.” 

“Texas law also imposes a duty on DFPS to investigate the parents of a child who is subjected to these abusive gender-transitioning procedures, and on other state agencies to investigate licensed facilities where such procedures may occur,” he said.

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