Letter to Jamie Masters, Commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services - Governor Abbott Directs DFPS To Investigate Gender-Transitioning Procedures As Child Abuse

Letter

Dear Commissioner Masters:

Consistent with our correspondence in August 2021, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has
now confirmed in the enclosed opinion that a number of so-called "sex change" procedures constitute
child abuse under existing Texas law. Because 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.

As OAG Opinion No. KP-0401 makes clear, it 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. See TEX. FAM.
CODE § 261.001(1)(A)--(D) (defining "abuse"). Texas 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. See id. §§ 261.101(b), 261.109(a-1). There are similar reporting requirements and
criminal penalties for members of the general public. See id. §§ 261.101(a), 261.109(a).

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. See TEX. FAM. CODE § 261.301(a)--(b). To protect Texas
children from abuse, DFPS and all other state agencies must follow the law as explained in OAG
Opinion No. KP-0401.

Sincerely,

Source