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Ohio is being sued over a new law that limits health care for transgender kids

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — The ACLU of Ohio, along with global law firm Goodwin, has filed a lawsuit against the state, trying to halt legislation from going into effect that would limit health care for transgender kids and ban trans athletes from participating in girls’ sports. The lawsuit has been filed in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas on behalf of two families whose children are at risk of losing critical, medically necessary healthcare. The lawsuit asks the court to strike down H.B. 68 before the law is set to take effect on April 24, 2024.

Opponents of HB 68 hold a press conference prior to an Ohio Senate vote on the bill, which bars transgender youth from participating in school athletics and accessing certain medical care.
Opponents of HB 68 hold a press conference prior to an Ohio Senate vote on the bill, which bars transgender youth from participating in school athletics and accessing certain medical care. [Sarah Donaldson | Statehouse News Bureau]
Freda Levenson, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio, said the ban is “cruel, not based on science and is unconstitutional.”

The lawsuit isn’t a surprise. Levenson warned the state two months ago that a lawsuit would be forthcoming over the new rules.

“So, we are suing in order to protect the rights of patients and their families to make these personal decisions on the advice of evidence-based physician’s prescriptions and without interference from politicians,” Levenson said.

In January, the GOP-dominated Senate overrode Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of that bill. The Republican-led House had overridden DeWine’s veto earlier this month.

But in an ironic twist, an amendment backed by GOP lawmakers worried about Obamacare restricting health care choices more than a dozen years ago is being cited as a reason why this new bill is unconstitutional. Levenson said the amendment passed in 2011 makes the state’s new law unconstitutional.

This suit contends House Bill 68 violates four sections of the Ohio Constitution including the single-subject rule, the Health Care provision, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Due Course of Law provision.

“The ban on gender-affirming care will cause severe harm to transgender youth. These personal, private medical decisions should remain between families and doctors; they don’t belong to politicians. H.B. 68 violates the Ohio Constitution in multiple ways. We will fight in court to ensure that trans youth and their parents can access critically important, lifesaving healthcare without government intrusion,” said Levenson.

Levenson said all of the major American medical associations support puberty-blocking treatments for transgender youth.

Ohio House Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), the sponsor of H.B. 68, said he’s not surprised by the lawsuit.

“I’ve suspected from the beginning there would be a lawsuit from the very day I started working on the bill, I knew there would be one,” Click said.

Click said other states have upheld similar legislation. And he said he has faith the same will happen here in Ohio.

“I think we have an excellent attorney general who’s very capable of defending this common-sense legislation,” Click said.