Texas sues doctor over gender-affirming care for young patients

Texas has taken a big step by starting a lawsuit against a doctor who they say broke the states rules about giving gender-affirming care to young patients. This is the first case of its kind in Texas

The states top lawyer‚ Ken Paxton‚ says that May Lau‚ a kids doctor at a big hospital in Dallas gave testosterone to at least 21 young patients who wanted to change from female to male. Paxton thinks Lau is someone who doesnt care about rules and is putting young peoples health at risk

Lau and the hospital didnt say anything right away when asked about this. The law that says doctors cant give this kind of care was signed by the Texas leader about a year and four months ago. It says doctors who give drugs or do operations to help young people change their gender will lose their doctor license

The lawsuit says Lau wrote most of the prescriptions just before the law started working (about a year ago) so her patients could get them later. But Paxton thinks this still counts as giving care that isnt allowed after the law started. He also says Lau wrote two more prescriptions that werent allowed after the law was working

Paxton also thinks Lau didnt tell the truth in her records to hide that her patients were transgender‚ which he says breaks Texas business rules. The lawsuit wants Lau to pay money and stop breaking the law

About four months ago‚ the top Texas court said the law that stops this kind of care for young people is okay. They didnt agree with families and doctors who said the law wasnt fair and took away parents rights to choose care for their kids

This lawsuit seeks money damages and a court order preventing Lau from violating the law in the future

Now‚ 25 states run by Republicans have made laws or rules that stop or limit gender-affirming care for young people. Many people are fighting these laws in court. The countrys top court will look at a similar law in Tennessee‚ which might decide if other states laws will stay or not