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The U.S. Supreme Court announced this week that they will hear arguments for U.S. v. Skrmetti on December 4 in a case that could decide the fate of gender-affirming care for thousands of trans people across the country.
The case began as a April 2023 lawsuit against Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, L.W. v. Skrmetti. Signed into law in March 2023 by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, the ban, Senate Bill 1, barred medical providers from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to or performing gender-affirming surgeries on trans people under the age of 18.
Organizers attempted to block the law after it was passed but it was reinstated in June 2023 after a federal judge did not find the ban unconstitutional. In an attempt to stop the ban from going into effect, the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Tennessee, Lambda Legal, and a private law firm joined forces to represent the families of three trans children and a doctor, suing the state and Tennessee attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti in April 2023.
After a federal judge found Tennessee’s ban unconstitutional, the state filed an immediate appeal and the law went into effect, prompting the Department of Justice and the case’s plaintiffs to ask the Supreme Court to hear arguments.
In response to the news of the hearing date, LGBTQ+ advocates pledged to congregate in Washington, D.C. for the start of oral arguments. “The ACLU, Lambda Legal, and advocates from across the civil rights movement will gather for a rally in front of the United States Supreme Court building the morning of oral arguments,” the ACLU announced in a press release.
Under SB 1, if practitioners break the law to provide life-saving transition-related care to their patients, they risk a $25,000 fine in addition to legal action. The law also mandated that all minors who were actively receiving gender-affirming treatments before the ban was passed stop their medication by March 31 of this year, forcing some families to move to other states in order to ensure their children retain access to care.
Trans advocates say that this court decision will set a legal precedent for whether or not it is constitutional for states to legally ban gender-affirming care. While the specific case in U.S. v. Skrmetti concerns trans minors, legal experts say a negative outcome could make it more possible for states to pass gender-affirming care bans for adults — and potentially lead to federal restrictions.
“A bad decision would make it much easier for a Trump administration to ban the care federally, which they will try to do,” Chase Strangio, Co-Director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU, previously told Them.
According to the Movement Advancement Project, there are currently at least 26 states with some level gender-affirming care bans in place, with even more considering similar restrictions. These laws span from barring surgery on trans minors to blocking medications like HRT and puberty blockers, which goes directly against the standards of care outlined by multiple professional health associations such as World Professional Association for Transgender Health and Endocrine Society.
As states like Texas move to punish medical practitioners for providing gender-affirming care, the lives of young trans patients, their families, and doctors alike are hanging in the balance.
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