For the second time, and despite questionable legal authority, Ken Paxton is seeking medical records from providers that are not based in Texas.
Lil Kalish reports:
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton requested the medical records of Texas trans youth who sought gender-affirming care from a Georgia-based telehealth clinic last week, escalating an invasive campaign that has alarmed many advocates.
The Georgia clinic, QueerMed, confirmed last week to the Houston Chronicle that it received Paxton’s request for data well before the clinic stopped providing care for youth when the state passed its ban on gender-affirming care last year. A separate report from The Texas Tribune noted that Paxton sought data about patients back in January 2022.
“I’m not breaking any laws,” Dr. Izzy Lowell, the founder of QueerMed, told the Houston Chronicle. “We are doing everything by the book according to state law.”
This is the second time Paxton has tried to get information about out-of-state providers of gender-affirming care. The state attorney general sent a similar request to Seattle Children’s Hospital in November last year.
Read more at HuffPost.