In an exciting turn of events, the Seattle Children’s Hospital has filed a lawsuit against the Texas Attorney General. Now, before wondering what the correlation is between Texas’s judicial system and a children’s hospital in Washington, please permit us to explain.
It turns out that since the Wade vs. Joe ruling of the Supreme Court earlier this year, the state of Texas has rolled out a string of local laws. These laws use the Wade vs. Joe ruling as the bedrock for their enforcement.
One such conservative law is that which prohibits medical abortion. However, the one in focus here is that which bans gender-affirming care for minors.
Since Texas recently started enforcing these laws, there may be minors living in Texas whose gender transition treatments have been affected. For this category of trans kid, it is natural for their families to seek treatment in more liberal states.
Details are not precise yet. However, that inspired a Civil Investigative Request by the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton. The legal request was dated November 17, 2023. Paxton demands that Seattle Children’s Hospital provide personal details of Texas residents who have received gender-affirming care since 2022.
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The request from the Texas Attorney General to the Washington hospital came with a 20-day deadline, which expires on December 7. So, in response to the request, Seattle Children’s Hospital filed a lawsuit against the office of the Attorney General of Texas on December 6.
First, the lawsuit acknowledges receipt of the Attorney General’s request. Then, it proceeds to object to the validity of the request’s jurisdiction. The lawsuit was filed in the District Court of Travis County, Texas,
Also, should the jurisdiction of a Texas Attorney General in Washington be upheld, the hospital is requesting an extension of the response time.
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Luckily, trans patients seeking medical care in Washington have a reprisal to bank on. The state of Washington anticipated such discrimination against the trans community. So, Washington has recently signed the “Shield Law.” This law prevents conservative states from indicting trans people for seeking medical care in Washington.
So, what does this mean for trans residents of Texas or any other conservative state? Visit Washington for medical care, and sleep easy without fearing disclosure. Summarily, Washington has become a haven for trans patients from GOP states. By implication, a minor from Texas can go to Washington for gender-transitioning or gender-affirming treatment without legal retributions in the future.
ALSO READ: The Supreme Court is Upholding Washington State’s Ban on ‘Conversion Therapy’ for LGBTQ+ Minors
Records show that Attorney Paxton has been a formidable opponent of pro-LGBTQ+ policies. Paxton escaped by the whiskers in September, when he almost lost his seat through an impeachment vote. It took the intervention of GOP senators of Texas to save the Attorney General’s neck.
This is not solely Attorney Paxton’s fight. Instead, GOP-led states are going all out with the gavel against transgender health care. However, major medical organizations are lending their voices in expressing the need for healthcare access for trans residents of conservative states.
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