Texas is biggest US state to ban transgender care for children, joining 18 other states

Texas became the biggest US state to ban transgender care for young people under age 18 when Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill into law on 2 June, which will take effect on 1 September.1

Texas has a population of about 31 million, second only to California, and is about the size of Germany. It has an estimated 30 000 transgender people aged 13 to 17, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. The institute estimates there are about 1.6 million transgender people aged 13 and above in the US—about 0.5% of the population.2

The bill prohibits “performing certain surgeries that would sterilise the child; performing a mastectomy; providing, prescribing, administering, or dispensing certain prescription drugs that induce transient or permanent infertility; or removing any otherwise healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue.”

The bill also says, “The Texas Medical Board would be required to revoke the license or other authorisation to practise medicine of a physician who violated the provisions of the bill.”

The Texas law …