U.S. Supreme Court to hear the TN gender-affirming healthcare case

Just published

The U.S. Supreme Court Will Decide About Trans Kids’ Bodies
This fall, it’ll hear arguments over the Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care

Oct 2024: Still happening

HuffPost says:

"The highest-profile case on the agenda so far is a fight over transgender rights that is focused on state bans on gender-affirming care. It probably will be argued in December.

Republican-led states have enacted a variety of restrictions on health care for transgender people, school sports participation, bathroom usage and drag shows. The administration and Democratic-led states have extended protections for transgender people. The Supreme Court has separately prohibited the administration from enforcing a new federal regulation that seeks to protect transgender students.

The case before the high court involves a law in Tennessee that restrict puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. About half the states have enacted similar restrictions."

— Mark Sherman, Supreme Court Opens Its New Term With Election Disputes In The Air — But Not Yet On The Docket Transgender rights, the regulation of “ghost guns” and the death penalty highlight the Supreme Court’s election-season term that begins Monday. AP, Oct 5, 2024

See also

Supreme Court to weigh state restrictions on gender-affirming care for youths The court is expected to hear oral arguments and make a ruling in its upcoming term, which starts in October and will end in June 2025. Lawrence Hurley, NBC News, June 24, 2024

I'm the parent of a trans daughter. There's nothing conservative about blocking her care. Politicians should stop trying to impose personal beliefs as statewide mandates that harm children and interfere with the private, individualized medical decisions of families. Sean P. Madden, USA Today, June 24, 2024

US Supreme Court to hear challenge to ban on transgender care for minors, Andrew Chung, Reuters, June 24, 2024

The Supreme Court Is Taking Aim at Transgender Rights: The justices have picked a case that can cause maximum harm with minimum blowback. Matt Ford, The New Republic, June 25, 2024

Legal scholars worry Supreme Court may prioritize “politics” over “real stakes” in trans rights case: SCOTUS announced it was taking up a case on transgender rights on the second anniversary of the Dobbs decision. Tatyana Tandanpolie. Salon. June 25, 2024

"Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed a bill into law Thursday that vastly expands the state’s power to gather information about transgender patients and their healthcare providers.

Clinics that receive state funding will now be required to provide aggregated data about transgender patients and their doctors to the state, and the information will be made publicly available.

Health care providers will be tasked with detailing the age and sex of patients receiving any type of gender-affirming care, as well as the type of procedure, names of drugs, dosages, frequencies, methods by which drugs are administered, and any diagnoses of mental health or neurological conditions. Clinics will also have to disclose the name, contact information and medical speciality of any health care provider who offers gender-affirming care.

Any state-funded clinic that offers gender-affirming care will also have to provide similar information about patients who detransition, meaning they once sought gender transition and now want to stop or reverse some aspects of it."

— Levi Kalish, Doctors In Tennessee Now Have To Give The Government Detailed Information About Their Trans Patients: LGBTQ+ advocates say the law threatens the privacy of doctors and trans patients seeking gender-affirming care. HuffPost, May 7, 2026