Ohio Ban on Trans Youth Treatments Blocked by Court
An Ohio appeals court has prohibited the state from enforcing its ban on medical care for trans youth, declaring it unconstitutional.
An Ohio law prohibiting transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care has been declared unconstitutional by a state appeals court. The court has permanently blocked officials from enforcing the ban.
On March 18, a three-judge panel of the state’s 10th District Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s ruling that allowed the state to enforce the ban, reported NBC News.
The ban on gender-affirming care — which passed along with a ban on transgender women and girls from participating on female-designated sports teams — was passed in late 2023 but was later vetoed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
However, the bill ultimately passed into law after DeWine’s fellow Republicans in the state legislature overrode his veto.
Two families of transgender youth sued to stop the ban from being enforced. A Franklin County judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the ban but later reversed his decision and allowed it to go into effect.
The families appealed the lower court’s decision, arguing that gender-affirming care was essential medical treatment for treating gender dysphoria. They argued it should be protected under Ohio’s Health Care Freedom Amendment.
The Health Care Freedom Amendment, originally passed in 2011 as an attack on the Affordable Care Act, not only prevents Ohioans from being compelled to participate in Obamacare or purchase health insurance but protects their right to choose what type of health care they receive.
In response, the state argued that gender-affirming treatments don’t qualify as health care, employing several anti-transgender medical “experts” to bolster their claims.
However, the 10th District Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s decision, finding that the prescription ban infringes on parental rights and the ban on puberty blockers is unconstitutional because it violates the Health Care Freedom Amendment.
The court also found the testimony provided by the so-called “experts” unreliable and noted that only one of the witnesses had experience treating patients with gender dysphoria.
Writing on behalf of the appeals court, Judge Carly Edelstein said the ban on gender-affirming care “impermissibly prohibits parents, acting on behalf of their minor children, from accessing treatment protocols in accordance with the standards of care and guidelines widely accepted in the professional medical community to treat gender dysphoria in minors.”
Edelstein noted that Ohio does not ban hormonal treatments when they’re used for other reasons, only when they’re used to assist a person in transitioning.
In response to claims that minors are not in a position to understand the long-term impacts of such procedures, she argued that parents are.
“It is the parents’ maturity, experience, and capacity recognized in our jurisprudence as foundational to their fundamental right to care for their children, that enables parents to make difficult judgments and grant informed consent regarding medical decisions involving their minor children,” Edelstein wrote.
Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost vowed to immediately appeal the court’s ruling.
“This is a no-brainer — we are appealing that decision and will seek an immediate stay,” he said. “There is no way I’ll stop fighting to protect these unprotected children.”
Lawyers for the plaintiffs hailed the ruling as a “historic” victory for transgender youth and the concept of bodily autonomy in general.
“This win restores the right of trans youth in Ohio to choose vitally important health care, with the support of their families and physicians,” Freda Levenson, the legal director of the ACLU of Ohio, said in a statement. “We are gratified by the Court’s decision, which soundly rejects this interference of politicians with Ohioans’ bodily autonomy.”
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