AG Ken Paxton is suing a North Texas doctor accused of providing gender-affirming care

Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing a North Texas doctor for allegedly providing gender-affirming care to nearly two dozen patients after the state's ban went into effect last September.

In the lawsuit announced Wednesday, Paxton claims that Dr. May Lau, an adolescent medicine specialist at Children's Medical Center Dallas and associate professor at UT Southwestern, violated the law. Senate Bill 14 by prescribing testosterone to 21 patients after the law came into effect on September 1, 2023.

The 35-page lawsuit accuses Lau of writing prescriptions before September 1 “with orders to fill prescriptions after SB 14 went into effect.” It is also alleged that she falsely billed insurance for another patient to cover up a prescription for a “puberty blocker device.”

The lawsuit calls Lau a “derisive” and “radical gender activist,” and states that each violation is separate grounds for the revocation of her license.

Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Children's Health said the hospital system complies with state health care laws and directed the request to UT Southwestern.

Neither Lau nor UT Southwestern immediately responded to KERA News' request for comment.

Paxton said the state will continue to prosecute doctors who “continue to provide harmful 'gender transition medications and treatments'.”

“Texas has passed a law to protect children from these dangerous, unscientific medical interventions that have irreversible and harmful consequences,” Paxton wrote in a statement.

Numerous medical organizations, including the American Medical Association And American Academy of Pediatricshave endorsed holistic gender-affirming care as a treatment for children experiencing gender dysphoria, or suffering from people whose gender is not the same as the gender assigned at birth.

Lau was associated with the now defunct GENECIS Clinic. GENECIS, offered through a partnership between Children's Medical Center Dallas and UT Southwestern, was one of the few clinics in the Southwest offering holistic gender-affirming care.

Founder Dr. Ximena Lopez closed the clinic in 2023 amid growing hostility toward transgender people — and as lawmakers prepared to pass SB 14.

SB 14 bans gender-affirming health care for children, including puberty blockers; therapy with hormones such as estrogen and testosterone; and operations.

The law also directs the Texas Medical Board to revoke the medical licenses of those who violate the law.

Families of Texas trans children and several organizations have filed a lawsuit to prevent SB 14 from going into effect. A Travis County judge issued a temporary injunction, but the state's swift appeal to the Supreme Court overturned the ruling. The court in June the law enforced.

Paxton has also put pressure on medical providers, including some out of state. Over the past year, Paxton demanded medical records of Texas children who received gender-affirming care from the Georgia-based telehealth clinic. QueerMed and Seattle Children's Hospital.

A hospital director denied that clinic staff provided care to Texas children in the state or away from Washington, but the hospital agreed to stop doing business in Texas altogether, according to a Press release of April 22. The agreement came after Seattle Children's sued state attorney general office to fight the subpoena.

Do you have a tip? Email Kailey Broussard at kbroussard@kera.org.

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