FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2023
CONTACT: Emily Witt, [email protected]
AUSTIN, Texas — Governor Greg Abbott tonight signed Senate Bill 14 into law. The legislation will ban healthcare for transgender youth in Texas, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
The Texas House voted to approve the bill on May 15, and the Texas Senate approved the bill on April 4. SB 14 will go into effect on September 1.
Texas Freedom Network Executive Director Val Benavidez (she/her) issued the following response:
“Today is truly a dark day in Texas. Despite massive public resistance against SB 14, our governor has now enacted one of the most aggressive bans on essential healthcare for transgender youth. This move will undoubtedly cost Texans their lives and solidify his legacy as one of the most violently transphobic governors in the nation. The consequences of SB 14 will be fatal — it will withhold treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy from our community’s youth that every major medical association identifies as lifesaving. The ban even callously mandates that young patients cease treatment already begun under the guidance and care of their trusted medical providers.
“SB 14 is an indefensible intrusion by the government into private healthcare decisions that should stay between patients, doctors, and loving families. This bill exposes the utter hypocrisy of the right and shows that they will violate our personal freedoms and civil liberties to serve their culture wars at all costs. While the governor and his extremist allies spout hate and sew division, they avoid tackling real threats to our children, like gun violence. We refuse to be distracted from their party’s myriad controversies. Greg Abbott will go down in history as an enemy to LGBTQIA+ Texans who needlessly put our children’s lives at risk.”
