SCOTUS to Hear Tennesse Gender-Reassignment Ban
The Facts
The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on Monday agreed to hear US v. Skrmetti, a case involving a challenge to a Tennessee law banning gender-reassignment health care for transgender youth.
Tennessee's 2023 law bans gender-reassignment care — including hormone treatments and surgeries — for transgender patients younger than 18. Three teenagers' families and a doctor who treats transgender patients filed suit in federal court.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
It's crucial that SCOTUS not only hear this case but also step in to protect the rights of these young people and their families. Republicans constantly boast about being in favor of parents' rights, yet the Tennessee law and others like it are prohibiting effective treatments that these vulnerable youth, their parents, and their doctors deem necessary. That's infringing on freedom, not protecting it.
Republican narrative
Republican-led states have acted fully within their legal rights and passed laws that protect children from the irreversible harm that could be caused by receiving these treatments, some of which are experimental. Although SCOTUS shouldn't have taken this case in the first place, it will hopefully see the light and leave the regulation of child welfare up to the states.
