Texas Scorecard by Jacob Asmussen August 6, 2021
The governor finally made his long-awaited “announcement.” But, will it do anything?
After years of silence on the issue and Republican lawmakers rejecting proposed child protection laws earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott has finally made an announcement about the statewide child mutilation issue—by sending a letter requesting more information.
On Friday afternoon, Abbott sent a public letter to the head of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, asking if cutting off children’s healthy body parts—when part of gender mutilation surgeries—classifies as child abuse.
“Subjecting a child to genital mutilation through reassignment surgery creates a ‘genuine threat of substantial harm from physical injury to the child,’” the letter reads. “This broad definition of ‘abuse’ should cover a surgical procedure that will sterilize the child, such as orchiectomy or hysterectomy, or remove otherwise healthy body parts, such as penectomy or mastectomy. Indeed, Texas already outlaws female genital mutilation of a child, and presumably that also constitutes child abuse.”
Abbott’s letter comes after a years-long saga sparked by the nationally known case of James Younger, a 9-year-old from Dallas whose mother wanted to force him—against his father’s wishes—to take sterilizing drugs and eventually castrate him.
Earlier this year, state lawmakers proposed several bills during the regular legislative session to outlaw certain similar mutilating operations on minors. But despite citizen outcry and the proposed child protection laws becoming one of the Republican Party of Texas’ top priorities, Republican lawmakers in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives killed the effort.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/gov-abbott-asks-state-agency-to-decide-if-gender-mutilation-is-child-abuse/
