SCOTUS to hear arguments on gender-affirming care for minors

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments concerning the legality of gender-affirming care for minors, a practice that is currently banned in Tennessee and 25 other states. Tennessee’s law prohibits puberty blockers and gender-transition surgeries for children who identify as transgender.

The Tennessee ban was passed after investigative reporting by The Daily Wire revealed that Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in Nashville was providing hormone therapy drugs to children as young as 13 and performing double mastectomies on teenage girls.

Dr. Shayne Taylor, who works at Vanderbilt’s Clinic for Transgender Health, said on camera that hormone therapies and surgeries for transgender individuals are a “money-making operation.”

“Some of our VUMC financial folks in August of, I’m sorry, October of 2016 started a couple of years ago, put down some costs of how much money we think each patient would bring in,” Dr. Taylor said in a video streamed to Facebook. “And this is only including top surgery, this isn’t including any bottom surgery, and it’s a lot of money. These surgeries make a lot of money. So, female-to-male chest reconstruction could bring in $40,000. A patient just on routine hormone treatment who you may only see a few times a year can bring in several thousands of dollars through a lot of visits and labs that actually makes money for the hospital.”

The plaintiffs in the case, including three transgender teens, their parents and the outgoing Biden administration, argue that the ban violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Critics of the ban maintain that the government should not decide whether a child receives medication or other treatments to assist a child who identifies as the opposite sex they were assigned at birth.

On the other side, proponents of the ban argue that puberty blockers and gender-transition surgeries are forms of “castration” and “mutilation” of children. They contend that it is the government’s responsibility to protect children from such procedures.

Tennessee Attorney General Thomas Skrmetti will argue that gender-transition procedures are life-altering, risky and unproven, emphasizing that it is the state’s duty to protect children.

In a court filing, Skrmetti pointed to several European countries that once pioneered gender transitioning for minors but have since reversed course, including Sweden, Finland, Norway and the United Kingdom.

The justices are scheduled to hear arguments on Wednesday, Dec. 4. A decision in the case is not expected until the spring of 2025.