On Wednesday, the Montana Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that temporarily halted a state statute that forbade juveniles from receiving transition-related medical care.
Judge Jason Marks of the Missoula County District Court, who first stopped the law in September 2023, will now hear the case, which was brought by two transgender teenagers and their families together with two providers of transition-related care.
The ruling was a win for the state’s trans children, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ legal advocacy group that represents the teenagers and providers.
Thankfully, Kell Olson, a lawyer with Lambda Legal, stated in a statement that the Montana Supreme Court recognizes the risk of the state meddling in essential healthcare. Transgender adolescents in Montana should rest well tonight knowing that they can live their lives without this constant threat lurking over them since Montana’s constitutional safeguards are even more robust than those of their federal counterparts.
The office is eager to defend the case on its merits, which will include recent scientific advancements that this court has disregarded, according to Chase Scheuer, press secretary for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.
In an emailed statement, Scheuer said that the Supreme Court had once again deserted Montanans in favor of its political allies outside the state. The Supreme Court jeopardized the welfare of children who have not yet reached puberty by upholding the district court’s faulty decision to temporarily block a law that had been duly enacted. This decision could leave children dealing with severe and irreversible consequences for the rest of their lives.
Though kids who do pursue medical transition start taking puberty blockers at the onset of puberty, which temporarily stops puberty, doctors treat gender dysphoria, the distress that arises when a person’s gender identity conflicts with their gender assigned at birth, on a case-by-case basis.
In April 2023, the Republican-controlled Legislature of Montana passed a bill that forbids medical professionals from treating children with dysphoria with hormone therapy, surgery, or puberty blockers. Additionally, Medicaid is not allowed to pay for such procedures for trans kids under the statute.
Last year, Marks issued a preliminary injunction against the law, stating that it was probably unconstitutional and that denying kids with gender dysphoria access to gender-affirming care would have a detrimental effect on their mental and physical health.
Additionally, he pointed out that the same Legislature that labeled hormone therapy and puberty blockers as experimental had enacted legislation granting patients—including minors—the right to receive treatment with experimental drugs provided they give their consent and the treatment is prescribed by a medical professional, according to the Associated Press.
Justice Beth Baker of the Montana Supreme Court noted in the majority judgment sustaining the injunction that the Legislature did not make gender-affirming care illegal or the treatments illegal for all minors because minors can still obtain them for other reasons.
Rather, it limited a wide range of medical procedures only when they were sought for a specific reason, Baker wrote, adding that the law interferes with a person’s fundamental right to make medical decisions that impact their health and bodily integrity in consultation with a preferred healthcare provider.
The decision to uphold the injunction was approved by all seven judges of the Louisiana Supreme Court. In a separate concurring opinion, two said that the court need to have clarified that discrimination on the basis of transgender status is a form of sex discrimination that is forbidden by Montana’s Constitution’s equal protection guarantee. One issued a partial dissent, arguing that the court should ve allowed the portion of the law prohibiting Medicaid coverage of trans care for minors to take effect, because there is no current federal mandate for Medicaid funding of gender-affirming care.
According to the LGBTQ think tank Movement Advancement Project, Montana is one of 26 states that have enacted legislation limiting assistance for kids during transition. Montana garnered international headlines last year when state lawmakers were debating the law. StateRep. Zooey Zephyr, the first trans womanelected to Montana s Legislature, was censured in a party-line vote after telling her colleagues that they would have blood on their hands if they supported the restriction on trans care.
The U.S. Supreme Courttook up such restrictionsfor the first time last week, when it heard arguments over a similar law in Tennessee. It is expected to issue a decision this summer.
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