The Supreme Court will soon decide whether states can ban gender-affirming care for trans minors

The Supreme Court is set to hear one of the most important trans rights cases in history on Wednesday, with the nation’s highest court set to decide whether a state-level ban on gender-affirming care for minors is an unconstitutional form of sex discrimination.

The ban in question, passed by Tennessee’s Republican-led legislature in the form of SB1, prevents doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, hormone treatment or surgery to minors experiencing gender dysphoria. The same medications can be prescribed to cisgender teens who go through puberty too early or too late, but not for those who feel uncomfortable with their assigned gender.

United States v. Skrmetti was brought forward by three Tennessee transgender youth and their families, who argue that the ban is discriminatory and violates the Equal Protection Clause in the U.S. Constitution. 

In defending its ban, the state of Tennessee has repeatedly cited the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned the federal right to abortion and gave jurisdiction over reproductive rights to the states. Tennessee also maintains that the ban does no discriminate on the basis of sex, arguing that it is instead a healthcare regulation that applies to all.

“The law draws a line between minors seeking drugs for gender transition and minors seeking drugs for other medical purposes. Boys and girls fall on both sides of that line,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, a Republican, wrote in a legal brief.

The case comes at a contentious time for trans rights. Anti-trans messaging was a backbone of President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign, boosted by right-wing groups like the Heritage Foundation and the Alliance Defending Freedom. According to a survey by the Associated Press, 55% of voters and 85% of Trump voters said support for trans rights in government has gone too far.

Last year, Trump threatened to punish any physician who provided gender-affirming care to minors.

“No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender,” Trump said in a video posted to his Truth Social account. “Under my leadership, this madness will end.” 

Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, at least 26 states have restricted or banned gender-affirming care for minors, despite the objections and guidelines brought forward by a number of U.S. medical associations. 

“We’ve seen just how far extreme politicians will push to deny us our reproductive freedom, from banning abortion to threatening IVF to even threatening to put doctors in jail for providing emergency care, with deadly consequences for women’s lives,” Jennifer Dalven, director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement. 

“The same politicians who are trying to control women have now set their sights on transgender people and their families and are trying to control their bodies and lives,” Dalven said. “Allowing politicians to continue down this road could hold severe implications for the freedom of all people to decide what is right for their own body.”