FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2023
CONTACT: Emily Witt, [email protected]
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate today voted to advance Senate Bill 1029. The bill imposes “strict liability” for medical malpractice claims made against medical professionals who provide transgender healthcare in Texas.
SB 1029 will now go to the Texas House.
Adri Pérez (they/them), Organizing Director, Texas Freedom Network said:
“In advancing SB 1029, Texas lawmakers are proving yet again that their cruelty knows no bounds. This bill is a dangerous, violent, and indefensible attack on the transgender community that carries grave consequences. By criminalizing compassionate medical professionals who provide this care, Texas lawmakers are stealing our ability to access evidence-based, lifesaving care, while amplifying harmful rhetoric that endangers our communities. Transgender Texans deserve to live and thrive without constant and blatant attacks on our freedoms. Our leaders were elected to serve the people, not target those they don’t like. The lawmakers who authored and championed this bill should be ashamed.”
Andrea Segovia (she/her), Senior Field and Policy Advisor, Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) said:
“These attacks happen every session, when will they stop? Continuous attacks on trans lives deter energy and attention away from real issues legislators need to be prioritizing and addressing this session. We cannot allow our state leaders to continue to force themselves between the personal and private relationships between trusted physicians and their patients. Trans Texans deserve better. We at the Transgender Education Network of Texas will continue to work tirelessly to ensure trans and gender-expansive people can continue to live safely in their homes across Texas. Trans people will not be forced from their homes or eradicated in our state.”
Ricardo Martinez (he/him), CEO, Equality Texas said:
“SB 1029 is an act of violence against the trans community in Texas. In a state with the second-largest LGBTQIA+ population, we are sounding the alarm. This bill would effectively shut down health care for trans people of all ages in Texas by increasing liability for doctors and insurers that provide healthcare for transgender people. Make no mistake, the attack on trans kids is not about ‘protecting kids,’ it is about making life in Texas unbearable for our trans neighbors. If you’ve been on the sidelines for this legislative session, now is the time to tag in. Lives are on the line.”
Ash Hall (they/them), Policy and Advocacy Strategist, ACLU of Texas said:
“It is unconscionable that Texas politicians would keep pushing forward bills that have been shown to cause catastrophic harm to the lives and mental health of people in our state. SB 1029 is yet another attempt to strip away freedoms from LGBTQIA+ Texans by limiting lifesaving health care for transgender youth and adults alike. It is discriminatory and unconstitutional, and our state leaders need to stop this devastating onslaught on the rights and wellbeing of transgender Texans.”
Shelly L. Skeen, Senior Attorney, Lambda Legal said:
“SB1029 is another attempt to chill the rights of every Texan to make fundamental decisions about how to live authentically in their daily lives and in this case, how transgender and nonbinary Texans make consensual decisions with their medical providers about their own health care based on age-appropriate, best practice, scientifically proven, life-saving, medical standards of care. Because this bill exposes medical providers to lawsuits for the life of the patient, which is virtually unheard of in the law, and is certainly unheard of for medical providers, medical providers will likely not take the risk of providing health care that is medically necessary. The impact of this bill will be devastating for medical providers and it will be devastating for all Texans, not just transgender and nonbinary Texans. This is again, not the time, nor the place for the legislature to tell Texans how to live their lives — but this is exactly what that bill does. Texas legislators need to begin focusing their efforts on protecting all Texans, not harming some of them.”
Cathryn Oakley (she/her), State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) said:
“Decisions about whether and when to pursue best practice, age-appropriate gender-affirming care should be made by a patient, their family, and their doctor – not the Texas Senate. This care is recommended by the entire mainstream American medical establishment, and politicians don’t belong in doctor’s offices with parents and transgender youth. This bill will do real, lasting harm to transgender Texans of all ages who deserve access to the life-saving medically necessary health care they need.”
If you or someone you know needs mental health resources or support, please visit:
—Trans Lifeline at (877) 565-8860 or https://www.translifeline.org
—Trevor Project at 866-488-7386 or https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
