OKLAHOMA CITY – Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in U.S. v. Skrmetti upholding a ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a challenge to Oklahoma’s ban brought by transgender youth, their families, and their medical providers.
The following is a joint statement from American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oklahoma, and Lambda Legal:
“Yesterday's ruling is a devastating outcome for transgender youth and their families across Oklahoma and another tragic result of the Supreme Court’s errant and harmful ruling in Skrmetti. Oklahoma’s ban is openly discriminatory and provably harmful to the transgender youth of this state, putting political dogma above parents, their children, and their family doctors. While we and our clients consider our next steps, we want all transgender people and their families across Oklahoma to know we will never stop fighting for the future they deserve and their freedom to be themselves.”
In a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oklahoma, and Lambda Legal, a group of families with transgender adolescents and a medical provider who supports trans youth assert SB 613 unjustly and unfairly targets them and gender-affirming health care in violation of their rights under Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. The lawsuit also alleges that the September 2022 decision to stop providing gender-affirming care to transgender adolescents at Oklahoma University hospitals to maintain access to COVID funding relief violated both the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
SB 613 bans all forms of gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender youth and threatens providers who violate the law with a felony conviction and discipline from their professional licensing boards.
