At least 25 states have implemented restrictions on access to gender-affirming care for minors
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging the legality of state-level bans on access to gender-affirming care for minors. The case, which won't go to trial until the fall, will have far-reaching implications for the civil and medical liberties of transgender people in the United States.
United States v. Skrmetti is challenging a Tennessee law that bars access to gender-affirming care, including hormone therapy and puberty blockers, for minors. In April of last year, the Department of Justice sued Tennessee, arguing that the legislation violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
“The right to discuss your health and medically approved treatment options with your family and doctors is a right everyone should have, including transgender children, who are particularly vulnerable to serious risks of depression, anxiety and suicide,” she said. Assistant US Attorney Kristen; Clark said then. “The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division will continue to aggressively challenge all forms of discrimination and illegal barriers facing the LGBTQI+ community.”
The law was allowed to take effect in July despite several legal challenges. According to the Human Rights Council (HRC), 25 states have passed bans on gender-affirming carewith 39 percent of the transgender youth population of the United States now living with laws that limit their access to medical care.
As mentioned earlier by Rolling rock, The restrictions — which are largely concentrated in southern states like Tennessee — force families to travel out of state to seek medical guidance for transgender youth and teens or leave the state permanently.
“It's not just that we would have to drive across state lines,” one Tennessee parent previously said Rolling rock. “It's that we choose the care for our child – with the guidance of medical professionals – but when we go back, we know we're going back to a state that has legislated that our child shouldn't exist.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/supreme-court-gender-affirming-care-1235045402/