High court reinstates enforcement of Ohio’s ban on gender-affirming care
for minors during appeal
[May 01, 2025]
By JULIE CARR SMYTH
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio may enforce its ban on gender-affirming care
for minors while an appeal proceeds, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled
on Tuesday. The law also bans transgender women and girls from
participating in female sports.
The high court's 4-3 decision reverses a lower court ruling from March
that had blocked the 2023 law from taking effect.
The order marked a victory for Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave
Yost, who has characterized the legal dispute as a fight “to protect
these unprotected children.”
Yost has parted ways on the issue with the governor, fellow Republican
Mike DeWine, who vetoed what was labeled the SAFE Act in December 2023
in a move he called thoughtful, limited and “pro-life.” The
GOP-supermajority Legislature quickly overrode the action.
Justice Pat DeWine, the governor's son, joined the three Republican
justices elected in November — Joseph Deters, Megan Shanahan and Dan
Hawkins — in reinstating enforcement of the law. Chief Justice Sharon
Kennedy, and Justices Jennifer Brunner and Pat Fischer dissented.
The law calls for banning counseling, surgery and hormone therapy for
youth, unless they are already receiving such therapies and a doctor
deems it risky to stop, as well as containing the sports provisions.
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Protesters advocating for transgender rights and healthcare stand
outside of the Ohio Statehouse on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in
Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Orsagos, file)
 The litigation was filed in March
2024 by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Ohio and the
global law firm Goodwin, who argued the law not only denies health
care to transgender children and teens, but it specifically
discriminates against them accessing it by allowing the use of
identical medications for other purposes.
They lost at the trial court level, but later succeeded in getting
the law temporarily blocked by a panel of the 10th District Court of
Appeals, which reversed the lower court judge’s decision allowing
the law to go into effect, on grounds it “reasonably limits parents’
rights.”
The Center for Christian Virtue, which lobbied for the law, lauded
Tuesday's ruling.
“The General Assembly has every ability to enact laws protecting
children like the SAFE Act,” President Aaron Baer said in a
statement, “and the Supreme Court sided with the Ohio Constitution
by overturning the lower court.”
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