An Idaho law criminalizing medical ‘gender reassignment’ procedures for children who think they are transgender will be allowed to go into effect while a lawsuit against it continues, the U.S. Supreme Court decided on Monday.
The court did not rule on the constitutionality of the 2023 law itself, but lifted a block placed on enforcing the law while the lawsuit challenging it is underway.
Under the law, medical professionals who provide puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or gender-changing surgery to minors can face up to 10 years in prison.
About 20 U.S. states have so far put in place laws restricting transgender medical procedures for minors, amid a widespread backlash against the practice.
Democrats, however, continue to oppose such moves.
Raúl Labrador, the attorney general of the rural western state, called the decision a “big win to protect vulnerable kids.”
“I’m proud to defend Idaho’s law that ensures children are not subjected to these dangerous drugs and procedures,” he said on X.
As debate around transgender issues spreads across the country, Republican- and Democratic-led states have diverged on the issue, with states like California, Illinois, and Minnesota declaring themselves “sanctuaries” for transgender youth.
A recent report by leading UK pediatrician Dr Hillary Cass found that the treatment of supposed transgender children is “an area of remarkably weak evidence” and that studies are “exaggerated or misrepresented” to support gender ideology.
The report also found that there is very little evidence puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones improve the wellbeing of gender-questioning young people, despite the claims of activists.
Following the report, the treatment of new patients aged 16 and 17 seeking to change gender was immediately paused by Britain’s National Health Service.
