• What Happened: Texas AG Ken Paxton issued a ruling today making crystal clear that mental health professionals who help transition children are breaking the law and committing child abuse, just like doctors and surgeons.
  • Why It Matters: Therapists and counselors are the first step in the child transition pipeline, and Paxton just closed that door too.
  • Bottom Line: Violators risk losing their licenses, losing access to public funds, and facing legal consequences in the Lone Star State.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton just made sure there is nowhere left to hide.

In a legal opinion issued Monday, Paxton clarified that Texas Senate Bill 14, which bans gender transition procedures for minors, applies fully to mental health professionals, not just doctors and surgeons. Therapists, counselors, social workers, psychologists, and marriage and family therapists are all covered. Any licensed mental health provider who facilitates the transitioning of a child risks losing their license and being cut off from public funding.

Paxton pulled no punches in his statement. "Any radical facilitating the 'transitioning' of our kids is committing child abuse," he said. "The law is clear that these radical procedures are illegal and in no world should Texans' tax dollars be used to permanently harm children. This opinion should send a clear warning there will be consequences for any medical professional, whether a doctor or a therapist, who is illegally 'transitioning' Texas kids."

The ruling came in response to a formal inquiry from Darrel D. Spinks, executive director of the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council, asking whether SB 14 applied to mental health practitioners licensed by the state. Paxton's answer was unambiguous.

"The definition of a 'health care provider' does not require a prescription pad or scalpel," Paxton wrote, noting that the law's definition of "health care provider" plainly covers counselors and therapists. He also pointed out that the path to medically transitioning a child almost always begins in a therapist's office, with mental health professionals serving as the "clinical gatekeepers whose assessments and recommendations initiate the interventions" prohibited under state law.

SB 14 passed in 2023 and was upheld as constitutional by the Texas Supreme Court in 2024. The U.S. Supreme Court further backed state-level bans on trans procedures for minors when it upheld Tennessee's similar law.

Texas had the law. Paxton just made sure everyone knows it means exactly what it says.