SCOTUS Considers Ban on Health Care for Trans Youth Ahead of Trump’s Term
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday over Tennessee’s ban on teenagers’ access to hormone treatments and puberty blockers supporting their transition.
In April of last year, the Justice Department sued Tennessee, arguing that SB1 — a law banning access to hormone therapy for adolescents in the state — violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause by denying health care to individuals on the basis of their age and gender identity.
“No person should be denied access to necessary medical care just because of their transgender status,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at the time. “The right to consider your health and medically-approved treatment options with your family and doctors is a right that everyone should have, including transgender children, who are especially vulnerable to serious risks of depression, anxiety and suicide.”
The DOJ initially won an injunction over the implementation of the law, which was overturned in July of last year by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which allowed the ban to take effect. That November, the Justice Department appealed the case to the Supreme Court, where the conservative majority will for the first time weigh in on legislation targeting transgender Americans’ access to medical treatment.
The Supreme Court’s decision will have a widespread impact not just in Tennessee, but on trans individuals living in any of the 25 other states that have passed legal restrictions to transgender individuals’ access to gender affirming health care.
The Williams family is participating in the DOJ’s lawsuit on behalf of their daughter. According to an interview with The Washington Post, Brian and Samantha Williams described how their daughter, referred to as L.W. to protect her privacy, was affected by the Tennessee legislation.
Now 16, L.W. first told her parents she was struggling with her gender identity when she was 12. Wary of beginning a medical transition so young, the Williamses first took their daughter to a counselor who specializes in transgender youth who they’d found through their progressive church. After months of counseling, the family reached out to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital to discuss the possibility of delaying male puberty for L.W.
“It’s not like we took this thing lightly and just did it,” Brian said.
As L.W. describes it, the support of her parents and her ability to access gender affirming health care allowed her to become the fully fledged person she wanted to be, after years of feeling like she was “drowning.” SB1 changed everything.
“All of a sudden to have a state come down and say that that’s not the right thing to do, that’s it’s abusive, that it’s wrong-headed, it’s just infuriating because I feel like I’m doing all the right stuff,” Brian told the Post. After the Vanderbilt clinic was shut down by the legislation, the family now has to drive five hours to receive her treatment in North Carolina.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed that his incoming administration will support heavy restrictions on the participation of transgender Americans in all aspects of society. His website features an entire page dedicated to his proposed policies targeting transgender individuals, which includes promises to “stop the chemical, physical, and emotional mutilation of our youth”; a ban on transgender participation in sports; threats to cut funding to all federal programs that “promote the concept of sex and gender transition”; promises to block health care institutions that provide gender affirming care to minors from the Medicare and Medicaid programs; and severe consequences against any teacher or school official who “suggests to a child that they could be trapped in the wrong body.”
While the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday, it’s possible the court won’t ever hand down a decision. Given Trump’s specific fixation on anti-trans policies, once inaugurated, the president-elect could instruct his Justice Department to withdraw the case before it’s ruled upon. The court could alternatively decide to still hear the case and rule anyway.
Either way, the historic fight over laws targeting transgender Americans will be a stage-setting moment for an incoming administration that has made civil repression of a marginalized group a top priority.
Access to gender affirming care has been “life-changing” and for some, “it’s even been life-saving,” L.W. told CNN on Tuesday. “I hope that we win this case. And I hope that that means [trans youth] can get access to the care they need.”
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