Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing a Dallas-based UT Southwestern Medical Center physician over violating state law by providing hormone replacement therapy to 21 minors. The case is the first of its kind in the U.S., after Texas and 25 other states banned forms of gender-affirming care for minors last year.
Here are 5 things to know about the case:
1. Mr. Paxton is bringing the case against May Lau, MD, a physician specializing in adolescent medicine, accusing her of using "false diagnoses and billing codes" to conceal "unlawful prescriptions" between October 2023 and August 2024.
2. If Dr. Lau is found to be in violation of the law, she could lose her medical license and face financial penalties of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
3. In an Oct. 17 news release, Mr. Paxton said, "Texas passed a law to protect children from these dangerous unscientific medical interventions that have irreversible and damaging effects. Physicians who continue to provide these harmful 'gender transition' drugs and treatments will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
4. The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other large medical organizations have disagreed with Mr. Paxton's statement. They have said that transition-related care is an effective and medically necessary way to treat gender dysphoria.
5. Texas law bans hormone-replacement therapy and other forms of gender-affirming care for minors, but permits physicians to continue prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to patients who had begun treatment before June 1, 2023, with the caveat that they would be weaned off the medication in a safe and medically appropriate manner. Minors are required to attend at least 12 mental health counseling or psychotherapy sessions for at least six months before they start treatment. It is unclear whether Dr. Lau's patients fell within that requirement.