Ohio court temporarily blocks ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth
A court in Ohio has granted a temporary restraining order keeping the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth as well as its ban on trans girls and women in female school sports from going into effect.
The order, issued Tuesday by the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, lasts for 14 days or until the hearing of the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, whichever is sooner. The law, House Bill 68, was originally set to take effect April 24.
A lawsuit filed in March by two young trans people and their families argues that the law violates the Ohio Constitution because it deals with more than one subject — the health care and sports bans are contained in the same legislation. Ohio lawmakers passed it in January by overriding Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto.
“The combination of these two unrelated acts is unconstitutional because it violates the single-subject rule,” the lawsuit says. “Worse, the General Assembly ignored the pleas of the families that the Health Care Ban targets, who seek nothing more than freedom from government interference in their health care decision-making. It also ignored the widespread opposition of medical professionals who informed the General Assembly that the Ban would prohibit a critically important treatment — in fact, the only evidence-based treatment — for gender dysphoria in adolescents.”
In granting the restraining order, Judge Michael J. Holbrook said the families were likely to succeed in their constitutional challenge and that the law posed a threat of immediate harm to the young people affected. “Beyond the legal framework addressing the threat to plaintiffs’ constitutional rights cited above, there is little doubt as to the irreparable nature of the actual physical injury to plaintiffs upon enforcement of the Act,” he wrote. “There is certainly a point where the changes to the body as a result of the progression of puberty cannot be reversed.”
The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, its Ohio affiliate, and the law firm of Goodwin Procter. “We are thrilled and relieved that Ohio’s ban on gender-affirming health care has been halted and that transgender youth can continue, for the near term at least, to access medically necessary healthcare,” Freda Levenson, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio, said in a press release. “Our legal battle will continue until, we hope, this cruel restriction is permanently blocked. Ohio families have a constitutional right to make personal healthcare decisions without government intrusion.”
“Today’s ruling is a victory for transgender Ohioans and their families,” added Harper Seldin, staff attorney for the national ACLU. “Ohio’s ban is an openly discriminatory breach of the rights of transgender youth and their parents alike and presents a real danger to the same young people it claims to protect. We are committed to opposing this law until it is permanently overturned, making Ohio a safer place to raise every family.”
“Today's ruling not only upholds the rights of transgender individuals but also champions the principle that healthcare should be accessible, and above all, inclusive,” said a joint statement from Allison DeLaurentis and Miranda Hooker of Goodwin Procter.
