The November 4th, 2025 election in Texas has various propositions for constitutional amendments on the ballot. One of those proposed amendments is Proposition 15, the Parental Rights Amendment. This amendment would add to the Texas Constitution that parents are the “primary decision-makers” for their children’s education, healthcare, and upbringing. Under this amendment, parents would have stronger legal rights if they challenge schools, medical providers, or government programs. Supporters argue that this prevents the government from undermining parents’ authority over their children. However, by enshrining parental rights into the Texas constitution, this amendment would make it much more difficult to legally challenge ways that parents are exercising control over their child, to the detriment of the child’s own wellbeing. Reinforcing parental rights erodes Youth Rights, and if you care about the autonomy of young people, you should vote NO on Prop 15 for the Texas 2025 ballot.
Mental Health Treatment
In Texas, minors have limited medical autonomy. For example, minors are only allowed to receive therapy without a parent’s consent in cases of suicide prevention, chemical addiction or dependency; or sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. In all other cases, a minor is unable to get counseling unless their parent/guardian allows them to do so. This is a clear violation of youth rights that is only bound to worsen if the new proposition is to pass during this election.
Many young people need mental health counseling and treatment. We are currently in the middle of a mental health crisis that disproportionately affects young people, resulting in increased rates of depression, suicidal ideation and attempts. 42.4% of Texas youth reported feeling sad or hopeless every day or almost every day for two or more weeks in the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Along with this, In Texas, suicide remains a significant concern for teens. The YRBS also found that about 21% of high school students reported seriously considering suicide in 2023, with 18% making a plan and 12% attempting suicide. Of those, 4.5% required medical attention after an attempt.
One look at these numbers is all it takes to understand just how important it is that youth receive ample mental health support. However, due to Texas’ conservative nature, many parents have a distrust in mental health treatment and therapy. A review article found that traditional / conservative values are associated with higher levels of mental-illness stigma (negative stereotypes, stronger emotional reactions, more social restriction) compared to more liberal value orientations. Similarly, a Psychology Today article explains that conservatives are significantly less likely to seek mental-health services than liberals, and suggests contributing factors: strong cultural value on self-reliance, perception that therapy is ideologically liberal, and distrust of mental-health professions.
Statistics clearly show a relationship between conservative ideology and a lack of value on mental health support. Because this dangerous trend exists, conservative parents’ unwillingness to prioritize mental health could extend to their children as well. Since conservatives are more likely to distrust mental health professionals, and the majority of Texas is Republican and Conservative, it is reasonable to assume that they would be less likely to allow their children access to therapy and other counseling.
An article from Chalkbeat notes that while Republicans acknowledge a youth mental-health crisis, many are less likely to consider increased school-based mental health services important. For example: “Just 44% of Republicans … said it was very important for schools to provide more mental-health services, compared with 82% of Democrats.” Because the data shows Republicans do not support school based mental health services, it is a very reasonable conclusion to assume that they do not value mental health treatments being given to their children. This directly puts vulnerable youth’s mental health at risk, as the conservative nature of Texas means parents are more adverse to providing their kids with much needed therapy.
Queer and LGBTQ identifying youth are especially vulnerable to their parents’ near-total control. Data shows that LGBTQ youth tend to have higher rates of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts than their peers, usually stemming from bulling, harassment and an unaccepting home. In the 2022 Trevor Project National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, Texas State Supplement, only 18% of LGBTQ youth in Texas reported high family support. Conversely, 82% reported low to moderate family support. The same survey found that only 34% of LGBTQ youth in Texas identified home as an LGBTQ-affirming space. From the report Texas LGBTQ+ Needs Assessment (2018): in interviews, many LGBTQ youth in Texas cited fear of losing financial or housing support from family if they came out, indicating family rejection/unsupportive attitudes were a major concern.
It’s clear why the mental health of LGBTQ identifying youth is in such a bad state. The problem worsens when the minors who are suffering mentally need therapy or other mental health counseling, but do not feel comfortable reaching out to their parents or guardians due to fear of shame within the families that do not accept them. These situations are exactly why kids should have medical autonomy to access therapy and other mental health supports outside of their parents consent. Proposition 15 will hardline “parents rights” into the constitution, completely removing minors’ rights to seek therapy outside of their parents consent.
The inability to receive counseling independently of their parents compounds on the already poor mental health of teens, leading to worsening symptoms of depression and the possibility of suicide. Now, Texas statutes currently grant minors the ability to seek suicide prevention counseling independently of their parents. However, Prop 15 could increase legal standing and political momentum to overturn any laws that give young people more rights, and to write new laws reducing youth rights. . For example, a law in Idaho with similar “parental rights” reasoning behind it prevents minors from acessing the suicide hotline without their parents consent. This restriction of rights is severe and deadly. Proposition 15 aims to move Texas closer to these types of laws, by immediately giving parents more constitutional authority to challenge any medical provider, school or organization who wishes to help their child. It is reasonable to assume that if proposition 15 passes, the Texas statues protecting children’s right to independently seek therapy in extreme circumstances will be eroded under the doctrine of “parental rights.”
Concerns with Vaccination and Children’s Health
Mental health support isn’t the only medical issue threatened by Prop 15. Opponents of proposition 15 argue that embedding parents as the sole decision maker for a child’s medical decisions could be used to challenge school vaccine mandates in court, on the basis that only parents should get to decide if their child gets vaccinated. This is not unreasonable to believe, as Texas is a majority republican state, and recent studies suggest that republicans have a growing distrust of vaccinations, especially when it comes to their children. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll from January 2025, about 26% of Republican parents reported that they have skipped or delayed some vaccines for their children. Along with this, a 2022 KFF survey found that 44% of Republicans or Republican-leaning independents said parents should be able to decide not to vaccinate their children for measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) etc. (versus ~20% in 2019).
If parents use proposition 15 to legally challenge vaccine mandates in schools in order to refuse to vaccinate their children, the consequences will be devastating. We have already recently seen the result of a lack of vaccinations in children in Texas. The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) reported 753 confirmed cases of measles in Texas since late January 2025. The outbreak included at least 99 hospitalizations, and at least two unvaccinated school-aged children died. The results of a lack of vaccinations among children aren’t imaginary- they have been shown right in front of our faces earlier this year. Parents refusing to vaccinate their children means that children will get sick and die from preventable diseases. Because of these horrific results, it is imperative that vaccination mandates for children remain intact, and parents’ ability to challenge them are limited. In order to protect children from dying at the hands of their irresponsible parents, proposition 15 must not pass in Texas.
Overbearing Parental Control In Education and Upbringing
Proposition 15 gives parents near-exclusive control of a child’s “upbringing”, codified into the Texas constitution. On paper, this doesn’t sound much different from the rights parents already have. However, this upbringing clause provides risks for children in cases where their parents do not have their best interest at heart. Prop 15 weakens protections for children against abuse and overbearing control by their parents. If a parent abuses their child by sheltering them and indoctrinating them, the parent can legally argue that they have the right to do so, since they have complete decision making power over the child’s “upbringing”. This erodes gray areas of emotional abuse and manipulation cases, providing parents more power to harm their children in ways that may not be explicitly considered abuse, but are still to the detriment of their child’s mental and physical wellbeing.
One way that parents exercise their control to shelter their children is by enrolling them in private schools, which may not always benefit their education. In some cases, where the student’s educational goals align more with their parents than the state, this could be beneficial. Overall, though, granting complete control to the parent is not in the interest of most students. This becomes a concern when the parents’ educational goals for their child may not be in the child’s best interest. In Texas, private school teachers are not required to be certified by the state. This opens the door for private schools to shelter them from any controversial information that their parents would not want them to receive. This takes away from youth rights by increasing parental control. Proposition 15 will limit a child’s own ability to choose their education, and follow the path that best benefits them, by giving their parent explicit control of their educational future.
Proposition 15 reinforces overbearing parental rights, opening the door to legal challenges of the few regulations that give young people rights apart from their parents. Youth need medical autonomy to receive or reject medical treatments independently of their parents. Hardlining parents as the only decision maker for a child’s decisions is a slippery slope that will be used as a justification for bringing in all types of dangerous laws that limit minor’s fundamental rights, in order to extend their parent’s control. If you do not want vaccination mandates to be challenged, and children to potentially die from preventable diseases, vote NO on proposition 15. If you don’t want Texas to pass overbearing regulations, potentially limiting children’s access to life saving suicide prevention support, vote NO on proposition 15. If you want to make sure a child’s educational freedom isn’t continually eroded by sheltering parents, vote NO on proposition 15. Vote NO on proposition 15, because young people, the ones who are directly affected by this law, don’t have the right to vote for themselves.
How to vote
If you’re in the state of Texas, over 18 and have already registered to vote at any point (the registration deadline has already passed), you can find more information on how to vote in this election at vote411.org, specifically this page to find your polling place, this page to see information about Texas and its elections, and this page to read more about Prop 15.
The text of Vote NO on Texas Proposition 15 “Parental Rights” Amendment. Here’s how it would harm youth © 2025 by Xillion is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
