Tennessee law denies transgender youths equal access to medical care, ABA says
Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, the ABA has argued in an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. (Image from Shutterstock)
Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, the ABA has argued in an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Equal protection forbids differential treatment in the exercise of important constitutional rights absent the strongest justification, and Tennessee’s [Senate Bill 1] cannot withstand scrutiny under that standard,” according to the Sept. 3 brief. “Medical experts have recognized that medical care to help adolescents conform their bodies to their gender identity is both safe and effective. Yet SB1 denies those treatments to transgender individuals while allowing them to others, with no plausible medical justification.”
The Supreme Court in June agreed to review the constitutionality of Tennessee Senate Bill 1, which prohibits medical treatments aiming to allow minors “to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with” their sex assigned at birth. It also bans the treatment of “purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity.”
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Cincinnati ruled in September 2023 that the law does not discriminate based on sex for purposes of the equal protection clause. The same court rejected a stay request and allowed Tennessee to enforce the law in July 2023.
The ABA has a long history of supporting LGBTQ rights and the right to make medical decisions.
“More than 50 years ago, the ABA adopted its first policy supporting LGBTQ rights, urging the repeal of laws criminalizing private sexual relations between consenting adults,” the ABA said in its brief. “Since that time, the ABA has continued to oppose anti-gay and anti-transgender discrimination.”
The ABA specifically called for greater protection for gender-affirming health care at the 2024 ABA Annual Meeting in August. The resolution—which passed overwhelmingly—urges legislatures to enact laws that protect patients’ access to gender-affirming care and health care professionals’ ability to provide that care.
In 2020, the ABA also approved a measure that opposes laws and policies that discriminate against transgender and nonbinary poeple or impose barriers to obtaining or providing gender-affirming care.
Oral arguments have not been scheduled in the case, which is United States v. Skrmetti. The plaintiffs are three transgender adolescents, their parents and a doctor who offers treatment for gender dysphoria.
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer filed the brief pro bono on behalf of the ABA, which supports the federal government’s challenge to the Tennessee law.
An ABA news release is here.
