Tuesday, July 29, 2025 - Texas’ Supreme Court has let a sweeping ban on gender-affirming care for minors remain in force despite ongoing legal challenges.
The June 2024 ruling overturned a lower court’s temporary injunction, affirming Senate Bill 14 that prohibits puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender youth.
Justice Rebeca Aizpuru Huddle, writing for the 8-1 majority, held that the legislature made a "permissible, rational policy choice" and upheld the ban while stating that parental autonomy is not absolute.
Reaction across families, advocacy groups, and medical professionals has been immediate and intense. Leaders of the ACLU and Lambda Legal condemned the decision, saying it denies parents and doctors the right to make medically necessary decisions based on overwhelming professional consensus.
Karen Loewy of Lambda Legal warned that Texas is effectively allowing politicians to determine trans youth medical care against expert guidance. One dissenting justice, Debra Lehrmann, lamented that restricting life-saving treatments in this way is a fundamental assault on parental rights protected by the Texas Constitution.
Potential outcomes from this moment leave observers divided. With the U.S. Supreme Court recently upholding Tennessee’s similar ban in Skrmetti v. United States, courts seem to be permitting more sweeping state restrictions on trans health care raising alarms for families in over 25 states with similar laws.
Meanwhile advocates are vowing to appeal further, citing constitutional protections and medical credibility. The fight now centers on whether a national legal framework will emerge to protect transgender youth or allow state-by-state patchworks to persist.
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