The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Tennessee law banning specific transgender medical treatments for adolescents in the state is not discriminatory, ruling 6-3 to uphold the law.
At issue in the case, United States v. Skrmetti, was whether Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1, which “prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow ‘a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex’ or to treat ‘purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity,'” violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
That law prohibits states from allowing medical providers to deliver puberty blockers and hormones to facilitate a minor’s transition to another sex.
It also targets healthcare providers in the state who continue to provide such procedures to gender-dysphoric minors— opening these providers up to fines, lawsuits and other liability.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that the law question is not subject to heightened scrutiny “because it does not classify on any bases that warrant heightened review.”
“This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field,” he said. “The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound.”
All three liberal justices notably dissented in the case.
Source: Supreme Court rules on Tennessee’s transgender treatment ban for minors | Fox News