Overview
- Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a legal opinion declaring that mental health professionals fall under Texas’s 2023 ban on gender-transition care for minors.
- The opinion warns that any licensee who “facilitates” prohibited interventions becomes ineligible for state reimbursement and could face license revocation.
- It interprets “health care provider” to include all professions regulated by the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council.
- Paxton wrote that coverage under the statute “does not require a prescription pad or scalpel,” citing therapists’ roles as clinical gatekeepers.
- SB 14 bars puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transition surgeries for minors, a framework upheld by the Texas Supreme Court in 2024, and the opinion was released as Paxton runs in a GOP U.S. Senate primary.