AUSTIN, Tex. — A Texas court has halted child abuse investigations into families and parents of transgender children.
This is the second time a judge has blocked Governor Greg Abbott’s directive.
The temporary injunction out of Travis County blocks Child Protective Services from investigating parents who provide gender-affirming care to their children.
CPS operates under the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which was instructed by Abbott to conduct such investigations in February.
In this week’s decision, the court said it was necessary to block these types of investigations to "prevent irreparable harm" to transgender children and their families.
A DFPS spokesperson told ABC News that the state agency is investigating at least nine families.
The same State District Judge, Amy Clark Meachum had blocked the directive earlier in March.
But it was temporarily lifted after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed it.
Abbott’s directive came after Paxton published an opinion stating that gender-affirming care is considered child abuse.
Civil rights groups, like the ACLU, as well as medical organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics have pushed back against the directive.