(The Center Square) – The Ohio Supreme Court will let stand the state’s plan on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors while the state continues its appeal of a lawsuit.
The court ruled Tuesday morning it would grant the state’s emergency request to stay the ruling from the 10th District Court of Appeals, which would have blocked the state from enforcing the ban.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed the emergency appeal earlier this month, saying the law should remain in effect as the case moves forward.
The ACLU of Ohio said the stay denies health care for its clients.
“It is a terrible shame that the Supreme Court of Ohio is permitting the state to evade compliance with the Ohio Constitution,” said Freda Levenson, legal director at ACLU of Ohio. “Our clients have suffered tangible and irreparable harm during the eight months that HB 68 has been in place, including being denied essential health care in their home state. The Court of Appeals was correct that HB68 violates at least two separate provisions of the Ohio Constitution. We will continue to fight this extreme ban as the case goes ahead before the Supreme Court of Ohio.”
The 10th District Court of Appeals earlier denied Yost’s first motion for a stay and left a Franklin County Court of Common Pleas injunction stopping part of House Bill 68 from taking effect.
Yost appealed that ruling and lost in the 10th District.
The Franklin County court blocked the provision of HB68 that banned puberty blockers and other prescription drugs for minors. It left in place a ban on gender-affirming surgeries for minors and a ban on boys playing girls sports.
The lawsuit, filed a year ago by two sets of parents with help from the ACLU, did not challenge HB68’s provisions that banned gender-affirming surgery for minors and males playing female sports.
The ruling said the state does not ban the same drugs when used for other reasons, which makes the ban inequitable. It also said the ban interferes with parents’ rights to make health care decisions for their children.
