Oklahoma Stops Trans Youth Health Ban
By Charlotte Robinson, May 19, 2023
Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Oklahoma, the American Civil Liberties Union & the law firm Jenner & Block LLP announced the filing of a binding agreement with the Oklahoma Attorney General's office not to enforce SB 613 a law Governor Kevin Stitt recently signed pending resolution of plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction in their challenge to SB 613. Jointly stating, “We welcome this opportunity to preserve the rights of transgender adolescents & their families to access medically necessary health care while our challenge proceeds. SB 613 is a cruel intrusion by the state into the rights of families & their children’s doctors with grave costs for transgender adolescents across the state & we remain confident the court will see through this unconstitutional attack on their rights & lives. We expect all state officials to abide by this agreement while our motion is pending & stand ready to hold the State accountable & defend the rights of all trans Oklahomans, should any enforcement of SB 613 occur.” The law Oklahoma’s SB 613 bans all forms of gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender adolescents & threatens providers who violate the law with a felony conviction & discipline from their professional licensing boards. A group of families with transgender adolescents & medical providers who support this medically necessary healthcare filed a lawsuit challenging SB 613 because it unjustly & unfairly targets them & the critical health care they need in violation of their rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. With the non-enforcement agreement transgender adolescents will continue to have access to evidence-based care for gender dysphoria & medical providers will not need to live in fear of providing necessary health care to their patients.
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