Withheld Records Show Abbott Misled Texas Supreme Court on Gender-Affirming Care

Drawing on records from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), American Oversight filed an amicus brief with the Texas Supreme Court in support of families and medical providers challenging Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive targeting the parents and caregivers of transgender youth. The records from DFPS directly contradict the state’s claim that the Governor’s order did not constitute a new rule under the Texas Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

We are urging the Texas Supreme Court to recognize Abbott’s directive as a new rule imposed without transparency or accountability in violation of state law, with harmful consequences for transgender youth and their families. Such a ruling would confirm that Gov. Abbott and state officials sidestepped the law by implementing sweeping new policies without the public notice and comment that the APA requires.

“These records make clear what Texas officials have denied in court — that Gov. Abbott’s directive was not symbolic, but a binding mandate that forced DFPS to change how it treats families and medical professionals,” said our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu. “Texas law requires an open process. Instead, state officials imposed devastating changes in secret — leaving families at risk and the public in the dark. The Texas Supreme Court must reject this unlawful attempt to sidestep the law and affirm that accountability and transparency apply even when powerful officials would rather bully children and their families out of sight.”

In court filings, both the Abbott administration and DFPS have argued that the Governor’s directive to treat gender-affirming care as child abuse did not amount to a formal rule change. But records we obtained through a public records request tell a different story. Emails and other internal documents from DFPS show that agency employees and top officials understood Abbott’s directive as a binding mandate requiring DFPS to change its procedures and practices regarding families with transgender adolescents receiving gender-affirming care.

We filed our records request in April 2022 after Abbott issued the directive that February. In August, DFPS produced almost 1,000 pages of internal email communications, including top DFPS officials’ communications and instructions from DFPS leadership directing staff not to communicate in writing about gender-affirming care investigations, an apparent attempt to evade transparency. The documents provide a contemporaneous and unambiguous account of how DFPS responded to Abbott’s order and Attorney General Ken Paxton’s legal opinion — and confirm that the agency treated the directive as binding state policy.

Since 2022, American Oversight has filed amicus briefs supporting the families of transgender youth as challenges to Abbott’s directive have moved through the Texas courts. Read more here about our investigation into the national rise in legislation targeting gender-affirming care.