Court reinstates Tennessee ban on care for transgender youth
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[July 10, 2023]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Tennessee law prohibiting doctors from
providing medical care such as puberty-blockers and gender affirming
surgery for transgender minors can go into effect immediately, a U.S.
appeals court ruled Saturday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said advocacy groups
that had challenged Tennessee's law could not show they were likely to
prevail on their claims it violated the U.S. Constitution. The panel of
three judges voted 2-1 to reverse a lower court's decision that had
blocked Tennessee from enforcing the law while it was being challenged.
"Life-tenured federal judges should be wary of removing a vexing and
novel topic of medical debate from the ebbs and flows of democracy by
construing a largely unamendable federal constitution to occupy the
field," Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote for the appeals court.
Neither the advocacy groups that challenged the law nor the state's
attorney general could be reached Saturday morning.
Tennessee's law is part of a growing series of efforts by Republican
lawmakers to impose new restrictions on medical care for transgender
youths. Lawmakers said the measure was necessary to protect minors from
being permanently harmed. Medical associations have said
gender-affirming care can be life-saving.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jul/10/images/ads/current/ldn_sda_NILA_012823.png)
It bans any medical procedure performed for the purpose of enabling a
minor to identify with a gender other than the one they were assigned at
birth.
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![](../images/071023PIX/health21.jpg)
Stickers in the shape of a heart with a
trans flag are pictured during a conversation about trans care,
equity and access, during National Trans Visibility Month with the
Rainbow Room, a program of Planned Parenthood Keystone, in
Doylestown, Pennsylvania, U.S., March 29, 2023. REUTERS/Hannah Beier/File
Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jul/22/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png) Federal judges have blocked five
laws similar to Tennessee's from taking effect. Those judges found
the laws violated the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection
under the law.
The appeals court's decision Saturday said that absent a clear
showing that Tennessee's law violated the Constitution, choices
about medical care and protecting minors are best settled by state
legislatures.
Judge Helen White said she believed Tennessee's law "is likely
unconstitutional" as a type of sex discrimination.
Sutton wrote that the appeals court will try to reach a final
decision about Tennessee's law by Sept. 30. "These initial views, we
must acknowledge, are just that: initial," he wrote. "We may be
wrong."
(Reporting by Brad Heath; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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