“FYI the matter of 7 year old James Younger is being looked into by the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services,” Abbott, a Republican, wrote in a statement.
In addition, lawmakers are proposing a law that would stop puberty blockers, used for transitioning males to females, from being given to children.
State Rep. Matt Krause, a Republican lawmaker, said he plans to introduce a law “that prohibits the use of puberty blockers in these situations for children under 18.”
Unless a special session happens between now and the 87th Session, he will do so in the next session, he said.
“We missed our opportunity to do so in the 86th Session. We won’t miss the next one,” he wrote.
Rep. Jared Patterson, also a Republican, said he will support the measure.
In a lengthy statement, Patterson said the Dallas District Court ruling set “a disturbing and dangerous precedent.”
“The court sanctioned one parent, over the objection of the other, being allowed to forcibly administer puberty-blocking hormones to their child, with the ultimate aim of ’transitioning‘ their son from a biological male to ’female.' Adding insult to injury, the court has not only punitively stripped the objecting father, Jeff Younger, of his parental right to be included in decisions relating to his son’s health and medical care, but will require the boy’s father to pay for the sex change procedures being pursued by the boy’s mother,” Patterson wrote.
“The medical and cultural normalization of adults undergoing sex changes is such a recent development in our history that a debate is ongoing in our society. The judicial endorsement of chemical and surgical castration being done to a child was unthinkable just a few short years age and even months age, especially in Texas. This court’s ruling represents the most radical form of judicial activism and is a drastic departure from rational adjudication of family law,” he continued.
“Our law has long recognized that children lack the mental capacity to consent to things like sex, marriage, contracts, and employment.” He also wrote: “While I strongly stand for and defend parental rights, I cannot stand for the physically and psychologically abusive practice of sex change procedures being performed on innocent children.”
