Can States prohibit gender-affirming care for minors? What has the supreme court said?

Nearly half of all US states have laws on the books that ban the treatment of gender affirming care for minors experiencing gender dysphoria, some of which have been challenged by the courts.

Whether or not state governments have the authority to limit access to this type of care is a question that the US Supreme Court will deal with during this year’s session.

The Supreme Court will decide

According to the ACLU, the case in question surrounds a Tennessee law that “like every other passed by politicians in recent years” places restrictions on the types of hormone therapy that can be provided to patients. To receive hormone therapy, the doctor can only prescribe a treatment “‘consistent’ with a person’s sex designated at birth. doctors from prescribing hormone medication when they.” In other words, a transgender girl who has received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria would be prohibited from being prescribed estrogen. The case challenges the such treatments should be protected by the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. In other cases, the court has upheld the protections based on gender identity.

The Court has upheld gender identity as a protected class in previous cases

The ACLU cites a case involving a transgender woman in Michigan who was fired from her job because of her sexual orientation and gender identity. Three of the court’s conservative Justices joined the three more liberal voices on the court and upheld that the woman’s rights were violated since the court found that “it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex.” Such forms of discrimination are illegal under federal employment law.

When will the case be decided?

Like most cases heard before the Supreme Court, oral arguments will take place in the fall, and the justices will release their opinion sometime in June or July. Typically, more controversial cases tend to see their views released later.