A legal battle began when state Attorney General Ken Paxton, in late February, declared gender-affirming surgical procedures for children and prescribing drugs that affect puberty to be considered child abuse. In response to Paxton’s legal opinion, Abbott directed the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) “to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas.”
In March, a district court judge in Austin blocked the state from enforcing Abbott’s directive by issuing a temporary injunction. The judge said Abbott’s order was “beyond the scope of his authority and unconstitutional,” and a trial was set for July.
Nine alleged abuse investigations of minors receiving gender-affirming health care were opened by state, Patrick Crimmins, a Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) spokesman, confirmed to CNN in March.
If DFPS decides to resume investigations of families other than the Doe family, then “it’s still our position to do so would be unlawful,” Paul Castillo, senior counsel at Lambda Legal who represents the Doe family, told CNN on Friday.
DFPS is reviewing the ruling and has “no immediate comment beyond that,” said spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales.
More than 58,000 transgender youth 13 and older across the US are facing restricted access or proposals, and could soon lose access to gender-affirming care, according to UCLA’s Williams Institute, which conducts independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.
Last year, Republican lawmakers in Arkansas overrode a veto from their governor to put their own health care ban on the books, and Tennessee has passed a similar ban.
Finnish transmission system operator announced on Friday that a Russian energy company would be cutting off its electricity imports to Finland beginning the next day.
Beginning on Saturday at 1 a.m. local time, a subsidiary of Russia’s Inter RAO firm will cut off electricity imports to Finland, Fingrid announced in a press release.
“Due to problems in receiving payments for electricity sold on the market, further direct or bilateral sales of electricity imported from Russia will be halted until further notice,” the subsidiary, RAO Nordic Oy, wrote in a market message. “Trading is intended to continue when problems with payments have been resolved.”
However, Fingrid noted that the curbed Russian electricity imports would not cause a disruption for Finland, noting Russian electricity makes up 10 percent of the country’s consumption.
“The lack of electricity import from Russia will be compensated by importing more electricity from Sweden and by generating more electricity in Finland,” Reima Päivinen, senior vice president of power system operations at Fingrid, said in a statement.
