Texas sues doctor accused of violating trans youth healthcare ban

The state of Texas is suing a doctor for allegedly providing gender-affirming care to transgender youngsters, marking the first legal case against a medical professional since a ban on treatment passed into law.

The lawsuit, announced by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, has been brought against Dallas-based Dr May Lau who is alleged to have provided hormones to more than 20 minors.

Lau’s profile on the UT Southwestern Medical Center website, where she is an associate professor in the paediatrics department, says she specialises in “adolescent female and male sexual and reproductive health, including menstrual disorders, polycystic ovarian syndrome, dysmenorrhea, breast masses, gender dysphoria, education for, and treatment of, sexually transmitted infections, and the provision of contraception”.

In a press release, Republican Paxton said: “Texas passed a law to protect children from these dangerous unscientific medical interventions that have irreversible and damaging effects. Doctors who continue to provide these harmful ‘gender transition’ drugs and treatments will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

According to legal documents, Lau is accused of engaging in “deceptive trade practices, including by misleading pharmacies, insurance providers, and/or patients, by falsifying medical records, prescriptions and billing records to represent that her testosterone prescriptions are for something other than transitioning a child’s biological sex or affirming a child’s belief that their gender identity is inconsistent with their biological sex.”

It goes on to say “Lau… is putting the health and safety of minors at risk by prescribing testosterone, a controlled substance, to biological female minors for the purposes of transitioning their biological sex or affirming their belief that their gender identity is inconsistent with their biological sex in violation of [Texas’ health and safety code].

“Lau must be held accountable for her use, on at least 21 minor patients, of these illegal, dangerous and experimental medical procedures…”

If true, Lau’s actions violate a ban on gender affirming care for people under the age of 18, including the prescription of puberty blockers and hormone therapies, which was signed into law by The Lone Star State’s governor Greg Abbott in June 2023.

The law also required people already receiving gender-affirming care in Texas to “wean off” the treatments “over a period of time”, effectively forcing transgender youngsters to detransition.

The bill’s passage into law came two months after activists were “pinned down”, arrested and dragged out of the state capitol for peacefully protesting against the proposed legislation.

When it was brought into force, Emmett Schelling, the executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas, said that “cruelty” was the point of anti-trans bills such as healthcare bans.

“It’s not shocking that this governor would sign SB14 right at the beginning of Pride [month],” Schelling said. “However, this will not stop trans people continuing to exist with authenticity, as we always have.”

Paxton is asking the court for an injunction against Lau and for her to be fined as much as $10,000 (approximately £7,700) for each alleged violation.

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