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AUSTIN, Texas, April 19, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Texas lawmakers are considering bills to ban “sex change” procedures for children and prohibit gender-confused males from playing in girls’ sports.
SB 1646, a bill heard in committee in the Texas Senate last week, would redefine the state’s child abuse laws to include “administering, supplying or consenting to provide” “gender transitioning or gender reassignment” procedures to minors. The bill, which resembles a law passed in Arkansas two weeks ago, effectively bans puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone drugs, and sex change surgeries.
Sen. Charles Perry, the lead sponsor of SB 1646, and one of the bill’s twelve Republican co-authors, slammed “gender transition” practices as “not reversible,” saying that they rob children of a future. “God gave us a season in life, and it’s to have innocence up to a certain point,” Perry said during a hearing on the bill. “When parents interject things that rob [children] of that innocence, and really robs them of a future, we have a problem.”
Parents who violate the proposed bill would break the Texas Family Code, initiating a state investigation and possibly leading to loss of custody and other legal penalties. Doctors who perform “gender reassignment” surgeries on children or prescribe minors puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones likewise could face disciplinary measures by the state medical board.
Puberty suppression drugs and cross-sex hormones have not been approved by the FDA for use in transgender procedures, including for minors, and never have been evaluated in any large clinical studies with children, as the British government noted in a scathing report earlier this month. The deadly drugs pose risks of cardiac arrest, various cancers, and other life-threatening side effects, in addition to permanent infertility.
Research has consistently shown that gender dysphoria resolves naturally in around 90% of minors, including up to 98% of boys. Nevertheless, when exposed to puberty blockers and affirmed in their so-called transgender identities, virtually all adolescents advance to extremely destructive, often regretted interventions like genital amputation.
“Children are unable to give informed consent,” Texas Sen. Jill Glover, one of the authors of SB 1646 said, echoing a ruling by the English High Court of Justice last year that banned puberty blockers for minors in England and Wales.
“This bill gives children a chance to get to adulthood with intact bodies,” Sen. Glover added.
SB 1646 would take effect on Sept. 1 if passed. A hearing on an identical bill is pending in the Texas House Public Health Committee.
The committee already has approved legislation to criminalize transgender procedures for children outright and to allow the Texas Medical Board to revoke licenses of medical professionals who provide them. The Texas Senate heard testimony this month on similar legislation.
On Thursday, Texas senators passed another pro-family bill, SB 29, to protect the integrity of women’s sports. All 18 senate Republicans voted for SB 29, which blocks males with gender dysphoria from playing on girls’ teams and mandates that athletes in public schools compete based on biological sex.
“This is about protecting female athletes and recognizing their accomplishments within their biological peer group,” Sen. Perry said about the bill. “Female athletes deserve their place in the record books for all of their hard work and dedication. We should not take that away from them.”
CONTACT YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS: Support legislation to protect minors! Click to contact your Texas Legislators now.
Over thirty states are considering bills to defend biological standards in sports, and three – Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee – already have approved bans on gender-confused male athletes in female leagues.
The NCAA has aggressively pushed against the bills, warning that it will “closely monitor” states’ transgender policies, which could determine NCAA championship game locations.
“For over a decade, the NCAA has been driven by politics, not science or safety, in promoting transathletes in women’s sports. Once again, the NCAA Board of Governors has shown their disdain for female student-athletes, treating them as second class and denying their rights for equality under Title IX,” Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, said.