SCOTUS Lets Idaho Enforce its Ban on Gender Treatments for Minors

The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) last Monday permitted Idaho to enforce a statewide ban on an array of gender-related treatments for minors while litigation proceeds through the lower courts.

Idaho’s ban imposes a maximum 10-year sentence to providers of myriad gender treatments, such as hormones, puberty blockers, and surgeries, Reuters reported.  State Attorney General Raúl Labrador had asked the high court to narrow an injunction from a lower court that had kept the ban blocked.

Under the Monday decision, the state may now enforcement the ban on all relevant parties save for the specific plaintiffs challenging the measure.  

Including Idaho, twenty-four states have enacted bans on gender surgeries for minors, while 23 have further barred lesser gender-related treatments such as puberty blockers and/or hormones, according to the proLGBT Movement Advancement Project.  Several such laws, including Idaho’s, remain the subject of judicial scrutiny.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel