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Controversy Erupts: AG Sues Doctor Over Hormone Prescriptions for Minors! 

United States: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued a Dallas doctor Thursday for breaking the law in the process of performing transition-related care to almost two dozen minors in violating the state law. 

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Paxton claimed that Dr. May Chi Lau, who is an adolescent medicine doctor, prescribed hormone replacement therapy for the purpose of gender transitions to twenty-one minors in past one year. 

Senate Bill 14, signed into law in September last year, prohibits healthcare providers from prescribing hormone replacement therapy or other treatments of gender-affirming care for minors. 

A Law to protect children 

According to Paxton, “Texas passed a law to protect children from these dangerous unscientific medical interventions that have irreversible and damaging effects,” NBC News reported. 

“Doctors who continue to provide these harmful ‘gender transition’ drugs and treatments will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Paxton added. 

However, a statement alleged that Lau used “false diagnoses and billing codes” to mask “unlawful prescriptions.” 

Response from Lau and her employer 

Both Lau and her employer at the time of the research – the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center – did not respond to initial inquiries seeking comment. 

Lau then faces losing her medical license if she is found to be in violation of the law and possibly a fine of hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Paxton’s suit is the first in the United States by an attorney general against an individual doctor censured for violating a ban on transition-related care for minors. 

Clients below the legal age of consent are expected to have attended not less than 12 sessions of mental health counseling or psychotherapy for six months before receiving the program. 

It is not quite clear whether Lau’s treatment of the minors could fall under that provision. 

Action against hospitals and practices  

To date, only a handful of AGs, like Paxton, have subpoenaed hospitals and practices that perform such care on minors for their records. 

Currently, twenty-six states have restricted access to at least some types of gender-affirming care for minors, as reported by Movement Advancement Project – an LGBTQ advocacy organization. 

Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas’ restriction in June 2023, and a court blocked it after families and doctors sued. 

The Texas Supreme Court chose to let the law take effect in September 2023 pending a state appeal, and in June 2023, that same court vacated and reversed the prior injunction in order to allow the law to continue. 

Moreover, Paxton’s office stated a description of gender-affirming care as “experimental, and no scientific evidence supports their supposed benefits.” 

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