By the time she turned 14 years old, Claire Abernathy had already undergone several drastic medical interventions, including a double mastectomy, to affirm what she believed was her true “gender identity.” Her mother, Carrie, told IW Features that she was understandably concerned about the serious and irreversible consequences that more often than not accompany these procedures, especially in developing young adults. But the alternative, according to Claire’s therapist and doctors, was that her child would become suicidal and kill herself.
Far too many parents of gender-confused children have been told a similar lie: that immediate and emphatic affirmation is the only way to prevent gender-confused children from killing themselves. This is emotional blackmail of the worst kind, used regularly by gender activists who know it is one of the only ways they can force parents to accept an ideology that defies reality, common sense, and every natural parental instinct.
Unfortunately, Claire Abernathy eventually did become suicidal—after her transition. But when Carrie began seeking help for her daughter, she ran into another dilemma: in Texas, where they lived, parents can be investigated for child abuse if the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) determines they transitioned their child.
Carrie was panicked. “I was so terrified that I would lose custody of her,” she told IW Features. “That I would take her to a facility to get help, and then the state would take custody of her, and I wouldn’t be able to bring her home. I just determined that the only thing to do was to leave the state of Texas because I was not going to lose my child. I did all of what I did to not lose my child.”
The Texas policy stems from a non-binding directive issued by Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2022, classifying “gender-affirming care” for minors as child abuse under existing state law. The intentions behind this guidance are well-meaning. Physical and hormonal interventions for gender dysphoria are a legitimate harm being pushed on vulnerable children who cannot understand, and thus consent to, the long-term consequences of these procedures.
Claire discovered this for herself when she began to detransition a few years ago. She had never fully processed, for example, the fact that having a surgeon remove her healthy breasts meant she would permanently lose the ability to one day breastfeed her children. Few 13-year-old girls would.
Moreover, Texas officials are right to want to use the authority of the state to dissuade families from heading down the path of medicalization in the first place. The state has an obligation to protect children from harm—including harm caused by parents.
However, the Texas guidance forgets that many parents of gender-confused children are victims, too. As Carrie put it, “Parents are not making these decisions for their children because they just think it’s a good idea.” Rather, they are being manipulated into thinking they have no other choice, often by the same professionals who pushed gender confusion onto their children in the first place.
For that reason, it is good that Texas shifted its strategy in 2023 to crack down on the real culprit: the medical industry, which stands to profit greatly from coercing parents like Carrie into turning their children into permanent patients. Texas Senate Bill 14, passed in September 2023 and upheld by the Texas Supreme Court in 2024, makes it illegal for doctors and other licensed medical professionals to provide so-called “gender-affirming care,” including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transition-related surgeries, to children under 18 years of age. Physicians found in violation of the law stand to lose their medical licenses and can face hefty fines.
Abbott and Paxton’s guidance targeting parents still stands as well, though it has not resulted in any parents losing their custodial rights and remains legally questionable, according to a 2022 ruling by the Texas Supreme Court. In fact, as of 2023, Texas DFPS had opened only 15 investigations related to the guidance, and of those, 12 have been closed. The agency said it is not pursuing the other three due to ongoing litigation.
That’s for the best. Texas—and every other state that wants to take on the gender lobby—will be far more effective at combating gender ideology by targeting the industries that push it on children—and their parents—in the first place. As Claire and Carrie’s story proves, it is the gender activists in white robes who are primarily to blame—not the parents, whose love for their children makes them just as vulnerable and ripe for exploitation as the distressed children they are seeking to save.
