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Ohio’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors is in effect again after a court ruling

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — The Ohio Supreme Court is allowing a ban on gender-affirming care for minors ruling to go back into effect, a little over a month after the Tenth District Court of Appeals blocked it. The ruling means House Bill 68 can be applied while the Ohio Supreme Court decides its next move.

LGBTQ activists stand in the rain outside the Ohio Statehouse as the Senate debates overriding Gov. Mike DeWine‘s veto of House Bill 68
LGBTQ activists stand in the rain outside the Ohio Statehouse as the Senate debates overriding Gov. Mike DeWine‘s veto of House Bill 68, which would ban gender transition treatment for minors and trans athletes in girls’ sports. The override passed mostly along party lines, with only one Republican senator voting against it. [Jo Ingles | Statehouse News Bureau]
“The Supreme Court of Ohio did not issue a written opinion with reasoning on why the stay was granted, so we still don’t know exactly what their thinking is on this case,” said David Carey, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. “We don’t know what they may think about the merits of this case or whether the stay is simply pressing the pause button while they consider a weighty issue. We don’t know that.

Carey said in the meantime, families of children seeking gender-affirming health care are caught in a quandary.

“Many of them are being forced to seek health care out of state. Those who are unable to may very well be simply denied this critical and even life-saving health care,” Carey said. “Those who have already undertaken a course of treatment in gender affirming care are allowed, under the law, to continue that. But those who need it on a new basis will be forbidden from doing so.”

Bethany McCorkle, spokesperson for Attorney General Dave Yost, said, “We are pleased that the Ohio Supreme Court confirmed that Ohio’s law protecting children from drug-induced gender transitions remains in effect as the case moves forward.”

We look forward to showing once again that the legislature acted properly in enacting this constitutional law, which protects our children from irreversible medical decisions,” McCorkle said.

HB 68, known as the Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act, also includes a ban on trans athletes playing girls’ sports, but that’s already in effect and is not affected by this lawsuit.

The legislation has been controversial. It was put in place after Republican lawmakers overrode Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto in 2023. DeWine had said he was concerned about the effects of the ban after meeting with parents of trans kids, and had proposed a set of agency rules to track treatments.

There’s no word on when the Ohio Supreme Court might hold hearings on whether to take up the case.