You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

Hey Shortwaveers, Aaron Scott here.

You might have been following the news in recent weeks about how Texas' governor and attorney general

have directed the state to investigate the parents and health care providers of transgender children for child abuse,

or maybe it even affects your family.

So today on the show, we're bringing you a conversation NPR host Elsa Chang and our colleagues that consider this

had with two mothers of trans kids in Texas, as well as with Chase Strangio, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union

who focuses on trans rights.

Since they consider this episode aired, a judge blocked Texas from investigating parents.

However, the state's attorney general is appealing and claims the directive is still in effect.

In Texas, a letter from Governor Greg Abbott has left many parents feeling caught between two choices,

either support their transgender children or face a possible child abuse investigation.

He wants the state to investigate parents who allow their children to transition gender, saying they should be charged with child abuse.

This came days after Texas attorney general Ken Paxton issued a legal opinion, saying that certain types of transgender health care,

like puberty blockers or surgery, can legally constitute child abuse.

When the governor's letter came out, that's when parents really started to panic.

To meet the immediate instinct with just terror.

Annelise and Rachel are both mothers who live in Texas.

We're not going to use their last names or their children's names for their safety.

Annelise says she and Rachel are merely supporting their transgender children.

No legal scholar, every major medical association of her 600,000 positions, do not classify this care as abuse.

In fact, both national and Texas-based health care organizations say that gender affirming care is the best way to care for transgender children.

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