A judge has temporarily blocked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive for the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents who allow their child to be sterilized through the use of puberty blockers or genital mutilation surgeries.
District Judge Amy Clark Meachum ruled Friday that the statewide injunction will remain in effect until “this court, and potentially the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of Texas” hear a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and Lambda Legal in behalf of two parents and their 16-year-old child who identifies as transgender, The Texas Tribune reported.
Meachum said there is a “substantial likelihood” that lawyers for the ACLU and Lambda Legal will prevail in getting Abbott’s directive for such investigations permanently overturned, calling his actions “beyond the scope of his duty and unconstitutional.”
