{"id":1474635,"date":"2022-05-13T16:14:53","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T20:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1474635"},"modified":"2022-05-13T16:14:56","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T20:14:56","slug":"texas-supreme-court-lifts-lower-courts-block-of-investigations-of-transgender-procedures-as-child-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-supreme-court-lifts-lower-courts-block-of-investigations-of-transgender-procedures-as-child-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Supreme Court Lifts Lower Court\u2019s Block Of Investigations Of Transgender Procedures As Child Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftexas-supreme-court-lifts-lower-courts-block-of-investigations-of-transgender-procedures-as-child-abuse%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1474635&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/05\/9CEC1673-276B-4F11-92D6-A455E13EC83F_1_201_a.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\">On Friday, the Texas state Supreme Court allowed the state child welfare agency to continue investigations of \u201c\u2018sex change\u2019 procedures\u201d that may \u201cconstitute child abuse under existing Texas law,\u201d according to the\u00a0Office of the Attorney General, as noted by Republican Governor Greg Abbott in February.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">A lower court issued an injunction in March, banning state authorities from going forward with Abbott\u2019s directive that told the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate such situations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas, and Lambda Legal had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/aclu-sues-abbott-over-directive-to-investigate-transgender-procedures-as-child-abuse\"><span class=\"s1\">filed<\/span><\/a> a lawsuit over the governor\u2019s direction to investigate \u201c\u2018sex change\u2019 procedures\u201d on children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Travis County District Judge Amy Clark Meachum then blocked an investigation by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services of the parents of a 16-year-old who claimed to be transgender and brought the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Meachum later temporarily halted investigations from the direction of the governor throughout the state. A Texas appeals court later upheld the ruling, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/05\/13\/1098779201\/texas-supreme-court-transgender-gender-affirming-child-abuse\"><span class=\"s1\">NPR<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Friday decision gets rid of Judge Meachum\u2019s statewide directive, but it allows the injunction against investigating the specific family to remain. The state supreme court said the appeals court had gone above its power by putting forward a statewide directive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThe far-reaching injunction was automatically superseded when the state filed an interlocutory appeal. But appeals court judges then reinstated the statewide injunction,\u201d the outlet noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cHaving reviewed the record, we conclude that reinstating the temporary injunction is necessary to maintain the status quo and preserve the rights of all parties,\u201d the appeals judges <a href=\"https:\/\/www.keranews.org\/texas-news\/2022-03-22\/texas-appeals-court-reinstates-temporary-ban-of-investigations-into-gender-affirming-care\"><span class=\"s1\">wrote<\/span><\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The supreme court decided that Abbot and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are allowed to share their viewpoints, but the child welfare agency is \u201cnot compelled by law to follow them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cJust as the Governor lacks authority to issue a binding \u2018directive\u2019 to DFPS, the court of appeals lacks authority to afford statewide relief to nonparties,\u201d the supreme court also said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The ruling was only concerning carrying out the injunction, while the \u201cmerits of the case\u00a0\u2014 whether state-ordered child abuse investigations into transgender care violate the rights of families\u00a0\u2014 remains before the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals,\u201d per the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statesman.com\/story\/news\/2022\/05\/13\/supreme-court-texas-can-resume-transgender-care-abuse-investigations\/9761318002\/\"><span class=\"s1\">Austin American-Statesman<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Paxton <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KenPaxtonTX\/status\/1525160471904800769\"><span class=\"s1\">tweeted<\/span><\/a> in celebration, writing, \u201cJust secured a win for families against the gender ideology of doctors, big pharma, clinics trying to \u2018trans\u2019 confused, innocent children. SCOTX green-lighted investigations that lower Dem courts froze,\u201d adding, \u201c\u2018Transing\u2019 kids through surgery\/drugs is abuse &#038; I\u2019ll do all I can to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just secured a win for families against the gender ideology of doctors, big pharma, clinics trying to \u201ctrans\u201d confused, innocent children. SCOTX green-lighted investigations that lower Dem courts froze<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTransing\u201d kids through surgery\/drugs is abuse &#038; I\u2019ll do all I can to stop it<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KenPaxtonTX\/status\/1525160471904800769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 13, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">As The Daily Wire previously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/texas-democrat-judge-blocks-state-investigation-into-parents-permitting-16-year-old-to-undergo-gender-treatment\"><span class=\"s1\">reported<\/span><\/a>, on February 22, Abbott wrote a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/gov.texas.gov\/uploads\/files\/press\/O-MastersJaime202202221358.pdf\"><span class=\"s1\">letter<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), stating, \u201cThe Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has now confirmed in the enclosed opinion that a number of so-called \u2018sex change\u2019 procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The governor continued, \u201cBecause the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is responsible for protecting children from abuse, I hereby direct your agency to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIt is already against the law to subject Texas children to a wide variety of elective procedures for gender transitioning, including reassignment surgeries that can cause sterilization, mastectomies, removals of otherwise healthy body parts, and administration of puberty-blocking drugs or supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or estrogen,\u201d Abbott noted. \u201cTexas law imposes reporting requirements upon all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers, and provides criminal penalties for failure to report such child abuse. \u2026 Texas law also imposes a duty on DFPS to investigate the parents of a child who is subjected to these abusive gender-transitioning procedures, and on other state agencies to investigate licensed facilities where such procedures may occur.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Friday, the Texas state Supreme Court allowed the state child welfare agency to continue investigations of \u201c\u2018sex change\u2019 procedures\u201d that may \u201cconstitute child abuse under existing Texas law,\u201d according<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":1482905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1474635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1474635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1482905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1474635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1474635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1474635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}