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| Ken Paxton |
DALLAS, June 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A judge in Dallas County today removed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from a lawsuit involving Dallas' Children's Medical Center and physicians there providing gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
Judge Melissa Bellan in Dallas County Court at Law No. 2 ruled that Mr. Paxton and his office do not have the authority to act in the case and that no state law was implicated.
"The attorney general has no business being in this case and tried to push his way into it to satisfy a political interest, not a legal one," says Charla Aldous, who along with law partner Brent Walker and attorney Stephen Malouf represent the plaintiff, Dr. Ximena Lopez.
Attorney General Paxton intervened in the case claiming gender-affirming care constitutes child abuse. During a two-hour hearing in front of Judge Bellan, attorneys for the AG questioned whether Dr. Lopez was following the proper standard of care, but the court rejected those arguments.
"The attorney general intervened in this lawsuit with no purpose but intimidation only," Mr. Walker told the court.
Dr. Lopez filed suit in April against Children's Medical Center in Dallas in order to continue providing gender-affirming care – including hormone treatments and puberty blockers – for transgender youth after such care was suspended last fall. She and others believe that action happened after the attorney general and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pressured Children's and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center to stop providing such treatment at the GENECIS clinic.
During the hearing in front of Judge Bellan, Mr. Malouf pointed out that use of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria is on an approved list of treatments written by the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.
Through the lawsuit, and a temporary injunction that is now in place, Dr. Lopez and other physicians at Children's are once again allowed to provide gender-affirming care.
