18-03-2025
Appeals court rolls back Ohio gender affirming care law
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WKBN) – The Tenth District Court of Appeals has ruled against Ohio and its stance on limiting gender-affirming care for minors and issued a permanent injunction.
The appeal surrounded the ban on gender-affirming pharmaceutical medical care for minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The law bans transgender surgeries and hormone therapies for minors unless they are already receiving such therapies and it is deemed a risk to stop by a doctor.
The Court ruled Tuesday that the trial court erred in its favorable ruling on the law saying that the trial court did not apply 'rational basis review' to parents' claim that they had a right to provide care to their child that has been recommended by a medical professional.
'Such a sweeping and inflexible ban on parents' ability to access medical care for their children is not narrowly tailored to advance the state's articulated interest: the protection of children. Applying strict scrutiny. (The law) facially violates Ohio parents' right to substantive due process under the Due Course of Law Clause of the Ohio Constitution,' Judge Carly Edelstein wrote in her decision.
Edelstein added that the law violates the Health Care Freedom Amendment to the Ohio Constitution because it puts medical professionals in danger of discipline for providing care that is 'in accordance with the standards of care and guidelines widely accepted in the professional medical community,' and care that is being requested by parents on behalf of their children.
Ohio Attorney General David Yost immediately issued a statement on the court's decision saying he would continue to fight for the ban.
'This is a no brainer – we are appealing that decision and will seek an immediate stay. There is no way I'll stop fighting to protect these unprotected children,' Yost wrote.
Yost accused the court of going against what Ohio voters wanted when the law was passed and lawmakers agreed they wanted to limit medical inventions for minors.
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