The US Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Tennessee law banning certain medical care for transgender minors, ruling it does not violate the equal protection clause of the constitution, in a decision likely to bolster similar bans affecting more than 20 states.
Tennessee’s law prohibits the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery in treating symptoms of gender dysphoria in minors.
In a 6-3 opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the case — arising from a Biden administration lawsuit, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union — carries “the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field.”
“We leave questions regarding its policy to the people… and the democratic process,” Roberts wrote.