The news comes after Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Dr. Mary Lau of providing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors in violation of Texas’ child protection laws.
Texas has entered a new stage in enforcing its ban on gender transition procedures for minors, after a Dallas pediatrician accused of violating the law surrendered her medical license, state officials announced.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated that Dr. May Lau requested the cancellation of her license from the Texas Medical Board this month and the board approved the request. Paxton called the move “a major victory for our state” and said it “permanently bars Lau from experimenting on children in Texas in the future.”
The attorney general’s office sued Lau in October 2024, accusing her of illegally prescribing cross-sex hormones to 21 minors “for the direct purpose of ‘transitioning’ the child’s biological sex.”
A press release added that “The doctor allegedly used false diagnoses and billing codes to mask these unlawful prescriptions.”
Lau was a pediatrician and associate professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at the time.
One complaint said Lau inserted a puberty blocker device into a 15-year-old and billed the procedure as treatment for an endocrine disorder, rather than gender dysphoria. The state sought $1 million in civil penalties and additional costs.
The allegations followed testimony by two whistleblowers at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. Surgeon Eithan Haim and nurse Vanessa Sivadge said the hospital continued providing gender transition hormones to minors after lawmakers prohibited the practice and concealed it by altering records and insurance codes.
As the case advanced, Paxton and Lau signed a Rule 11 agreement that barred her from treating patients during the lawsuit. If she lost in court, she risked losing her license permanently.
Lau later left UT Southwestern and moved to Oregon. She then asked to surrender her Texas license, a request that Paxton’s office said was unusual for a doctor relocating out of state. Her attorney, Craig Smyser, said, “Dr. Lau decided to move her medical practice to Oregon and saw no reason to continue to maintain her Texas license….Dr. Lau continues to deny the Texas Attorney General’s politically- and ideologically-driven allegations.”
Lau also argues “that the court has no jurisdiction over her, and contends that the court where the AG filed the case, the county where AG Paxton has a residence and where Dr. Lau did not practice medicine, is a legally invalid venue for the case.”
Paxton said the case will continue even though Lau has left Texas. “Doctors who permanently hurt kids by giving them experimental drugs are nothing more than disturbed left-wing activists who have no business being in the medical field,” he said. “My case against her for breaking the law will continue, and we will not relent in holding anyone who tries to ‘transition’ kids accountable.”
Texas has filed similar lawsuits against two other doctors. The state dismissed its case against El Paso endocrinologist Hector Granados after determining he stopped providing the treatments once the law took effect.
Mark Bracken, an attorney for Granados, said in an email that his client has followed state law. “We have been cooperating with the AG’s office to show them that Dr. Granados followed the law. We entered into an agreed temporary injunction and an agreed protective order because Dr. Granados has nothing to hide and wants to show the AG’s Office that he followed the law.”
A case against Dallas pediatrician Brett Cooper is set for trial in May 2026. Cooper signed a Rule 11 order that prevents him from practicing on patients during the case.
Supporters of the law argue that enforcement can be effective. “We’re grateful for the Texas Attorney General’s leadership in protecting kids from these harmful treatments and procedures,” said Texas Values policy director Jonathan Covey. “No one is above the law, and it is horrific to hurt little children in order to advance radical gender ideology and play political games.”
State officials say Lau’s surrender of her license shows that Texas is capable of enforcing the law and that consequences are beginning to take effect.
Attorney General Paxton is right to continue to pursue this case. Not only did Lau break the Texas child-protection law that bans the use of experimental and harmful drugs and surgeries on minors, but she also is engaged in insurance fraud by using a false diagnosis code to hide her illegal behavior.
She’s not the only one. Michigan’s House Oversight Committee on Child Welfare recently heard testimony from a 22-year-old detransitioner alleging that Mott’s Children’s Hospital used made-up endocrine disorders in order to fraudulently ensure that insurance would sign off on his gender treatments when he was just 13.
All of this highlights the calling for government officials and the Church to protect children, speak truth, and uphold God’s design for humanity. Scripture teaches that every person is created in the image of God, male and female. Genesis 1:27 states, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.”
God’s creation is purposeful and good. Children are not experiments for social or political ideology, and any medical practice that alters a child’s healthy body is not only engaging in unethical behavior but is also rejecting the Creator’s design.
Jesus placed strong emphasis on protecting children. In Matthew 18:6, Jesus issued a warning to those who harm the innocent: “If anyone causes one of these little ones, those who believe in me, to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
Gender transition procedures given to minors cause emotional, physical, and spiritual harm. Many young people later regret irreversible procedures and carry lifelong consequences. Supporting legal steps to prevent this harm aligns with Christ’s instruction to guard children.
Believers also have a responsibility to uphold justice. Romans 13 teaches that governing authorities have been placed by God to punish wrongdoing and protect the vulnerable. When a state uses its legal authority to stop harmful practices against children, Christians can commend such action as righteous stewardship.
The Church must show compassion for children who are struggling with identity, while refusing to affirm ideas that contradict God’s Word. True compassion does not mean agreeing with harmful choices. It means guiding children toward truth, healing, and the hope of Christ.
Supporting the enforcement of laws that protect children from irreversible harm is a moral imperative. Christians can pray for parents, doctors, and lawmakers to have the courage to act. We must also reach out with grace to families impacted by gender confusion, pointing them to identity in Christ, where real freedom and wholeness are found.
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