A federal judge who heard a lawsuit challenging Florida’s restrictions on gender-affirming care says Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis repeatedly spread false information to push through policies that would limit access to various transition-related treatments.

U.S. Judge Robert Hinkle, of the Northern District of Florida, made the remarks during the final day of a trial, finding that Florida health authorities and DeSantis initially cast the state’s law barring minors from accessing gender-affirming treatments as a necessary step to prevent children from being mutilated. But, Hinkle said, the law actually prevents transgender individuals from accessing any health care treatments that affirm their gender identity, according to The Associated Press.

“When I’m analyzing the governor’s motivation, what should I make of these statements?” Hinkle asked. “This seems to be more than just hyperbole.”

The restrictions on gender-affirming care were first enacted in March after the Florida Board of Medicine and Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine — at the urging of DeSantis, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, and the state Department of Health — approved rules to limit the accessibility of hormonal and surgical interventions. 

DeSantis, who is currently seeking the Republican nomination for the presidency, subsequently signed a bill in May solidifying those rules into state law. 

Under the law, known as SB 254, medical professionals are prohibited from providing gender-affirming treatments — such as puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy, or surgery — to transgender minors.

Three Florida families with transgender children subsequently sued Florida over those restrictions. They argued that the law would harm their children by denying them access to treatments that would lessen or resolve their feelings of gender dysphoria. They also argued it infringes on their right as parents to make medical decisions for their own children.

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Moreover, the law places restrictions on transgender adults’ ability to access gender-affirming care. Adults must consent to receive gender-affirming treatments by going through a lengthy process that involves completing several official state forms.

The forms require an adult transgender person to testify that they were provided with the information about the possible risks and detriments of pursuing gender-affirming care beforehand, in person, by their doctor. Critics have argued that the language on the forms is effectively propaganda, casting all gender-affirming treatments as dangerous and experimental in a not-so-veiled effort to discourage transgender individuals from pursuing medical transition.

The law also requires transgender adults seeking out gender-affirming treatments to meet, in person, with only a licensed doctor, who can then administer the treatments. Separate in-person visits are required if a physician issues a new prescription or treatment, and existing prescriptions must be renewed in persona and not through telehealth visits.

People found to have violated the law — whether treating transgender youth or adults — can be convicted of a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.

During the trial, Mohammad Jazil, a lawyer for the state, argued that the law is intended to protect the public in an area of medicine that is relatively new and requires more oversight. He insisted that the law was “not about targeting transgender individuals.”

Thomas Redburn, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, told Hinkle that the restrictions had devastating repercussions for transgender youth and their families. He asserted that the law was discriminatory.

Redburn also pointed to other laws targeting transgender and LGBTQ people pushed by DeSantis and Republican lawmakers as evidence of anti-trans animus, reports West Palm Beach-based FOX affiliate WFLX.

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Examples of such laws include measures that restrict pronoun use in schools, the “Don’t Say Gay” law prohibiting LGBTQ content in schools and allowing for bans on books with transgender characters, laws restricting transgender people’s ability to access public restrooms, and laws prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in sports matching their gender identity.

Hinkle questioned whether the plaintiffs could prove DeSantis pushed for the law out of animus toward transgender people, or whether the restrictions were motivated by legitimate healthcare concerns.

“You’re almost never blessed with what’s actually in people’s minds,” Redburn replied, noting the slew of anti-trans laws passed under DeSantis’s administration over the past few years. “[But when] you put all that together here, you have an unconstitutional statute.”

Hinkle said he would decide whether the law is discriminatory and whether to block it from being enforced “as quick as I can” in the new year.

Hinkle previously blocked the law’s provisions regarding trans-identifying minors from being enforced but allowed the restrictions for adult patients to take effect on the grounds that additional requirements placed on them were not overly burdensome and did not directly prevent them from accessing gender-affirming treatments.

Lucien Hamel, an adult plaintiff in the case, testified at trial that the law has prevented him from accessing gender-affirming care, and that the restrictions on adult patients are so complex and difficult to comply with that the only way to access certain treatments is to leave the state.

“Being forced to abruptly stop my medical care this summer has been devastating for both me and my family,” Hamel said in a statement following the hearing. “I can’t get an appointment with a physician anywhere in the state. There’s no medical basis for this change — it’s just preventing transgender Floridians like me from getting care.”

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In court, Hamel also rejected the idea of moving out of state as a reasonable expectation for transgender patients. 

“The only answer I kept hearing from the community and others was, ‘Just leave Florida,'” he said. “I can’t leave Florida. This is my home. I’ve lived here my entire life. This is my son’s home, and for various reasons, I can’t just up and uproot my family and move across the country.”

Jane Doe, a pseudonym of the mother of a transgender minor, Susan Doe, said the law adds stress to the families of transgender youth.

“My worst nightmare is having to watch my child suffer because I can’t get her what she needs,” Doe said in a statement. “She is a happy, confident child now, but if we can’t get her the medical care her doctors recommend, I know that’s going to go away.

“Seeing Susan’s own fear about what will happen to her because of this ban has been one of the hardest experiences we’ve endured as parents. Nobody with a heart could ever do this to her.”