A Kansas state district judge issued a temporary injunction stopping enforcement of a law that bans gender-affirming treatments for minors. Two mothers sued so their trans teenagers could continue receiving gender-affirming medications. The court found the plaintiffs were likely to prevail based on personal autonomy under the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights and a parent’s fundamental right to make medical decisions for children. The challenged law prohibits puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors, while cisgender youth may receive those treatments for other reasons. After the injunction, advocates said gender-affirming care is essential to trans youths’ lives and that medical decisions should be made by families and doctors. The Kansas attorney general criticized the ruling as judicial activism and said an appeal is planned.
"Specifically, the Court concludes that Plaintiffs are likely to prevail * based on the right to personal autonomy set out in Section 1 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights and a parent's fundamental right to make medical decisions for their children,"
"“the foundation of young transgender people's entire lives and helps give them the future all young people deserve.” “Any decision about this medical care should be between families and their doctors,” he continued, “and today's order from the court restores that fundamental principle. We will continue to challenge this law until Kansas is a safe place to raise every family.”"
"“The judge invented a new constitutional right out of whole cloth,” he said in a statement to the New York Times. “Even though the Kansas Constitution says nothing about it, the judge created a new right of parents to obtain otherwise-illegal treatments for their children.”"
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