Supreme Court Hears Arguments over Tennessee Ban on Gender Surgery for Trans Youth

UPDATES below:

Supreme Court hears arguments over Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth, CBS reports.

Transgender Care for Minors Faces Supreme Court Test, the New York Times says.

The Associated Press states, “On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case involving Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender people under age 18.”

Thankfully the Supreme Court will hear the other side of this devastating issue – that this is not “healthcare” children are receiving, but mutilation of their genitals and sex organs, and/or chemical castration.

The left calls it “gender-affirming” care, which is unhinged.

26 states have adopted laws restricting or banning such care for minors, and most of those states face lawsuits.

The United States v. Skrmetti will determine if states have the right to ban “gender affirming healthcare” for minors, as well as the futures of millions of children across America.

SCOTUS Blog explains more about the case today:

The justices will hear oral arguments on Dec. 4 in one of the highest-profile cases of the term so far, United States v. Skrmetti. The case is a challenge to a law that Tennessee enacted in 2023 to ban gender-affirming care for transgender patients under the age of 18.

Three transgender teenagers and their parents went to federal court to challenge the law; the Biden administration joined the case under a law that allows the government to intervene in private cases alleging violations of the constitutional right to equal protection under the law. A federal judge agreed with them that the law’s ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender teens violates the Constitution because the law allows similar treatments for young people wishing to conform to the sex they were assigned at birth. But a federal appeals court reversed that decision, prompting the Biden administration to come to the Supreme Court, which agreed last summer to weigh in.

The case involves a Tennessee law known as Senate Bill 1 passed in March 2023. It bars health care providers from administering puberty blockers or hormone therapy if they’re meant to enable “a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex.” The state argued that it has a “compelling interest in encouraging minors to appreciate their sex, particularly as they undergo puberty,” and in prohibiting treatments that “might encourage minors to become disdainful of their sex,” CBS reports.

The euphemism: “gender-affirming care” really means surgical and pharmaceutical (chemical) treatments to make a child’s body appear and feel more like the opposite sex. Gender-affirming care for children involves the use of “puberty blockers” one of five powerful synthetic drugs that block the natural production of sex hormones, according to “The Truth About ‘Puberty Blockers’” in the WSJ.

This is also known as chemical castration – there’s no going back once sex hormones have been chemically blocked. Chemical castration and genital mutilation are not “healthcare.”

The underlying issue is about allowing these procedures for children, minors, under the age of 18. Adults can legally make these decisions for themselves.

Opponents of the Tennessee law insist that gender affirming care is safe, ethical, and lifesaving, Capitol Resource Institute says. “What they don’t mention is that it’s experimental, dangerous, and lucrative.” There is a monetary component as doctors perform these highly profitable surgeries. Yahoo Finance reports that the Sex reassignment surgery market will be worth $6.26 billion by 2030:

Based on surgery type, the sex reassignment surgery industry is segmented into male to female and female to male. The male to female segment held a larger share in 2022 and is expected to continue a similar trend during the forecast period. The majority of the patients are aged between 19 to 30 years old, making up more than 52% of the surgeries in the United States. Breast and chest procedures were twice as common as genital procedures among the same age group. More than 22% of the people who had surgery were aged between 31 to 40. Genital surgeries were more common among those older than 45. Also, favorable guidelines are one of the factors that assisted the segment growth.

The Supreme Court oral arguments are broadcast live on the website here at 10:00a, EST.

UPDATE:

I listened to oral arguments as long as I could. Here are some links to additional news articles:

• Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Says Child Sex Change Bans Are ‘Sort Of The Same Thing’ As Interracial Marriage Bans -Daily Caller
• Justice Sotomayor Compares Risks of Child Sex Changes to Taking an Aspirin -Info Liberation
• Supreme Court weighs transgender youth treatments in landmark case -Conservative Modern
• ‘Damaged’ Reveals How Crucial Supreme Court Ruling On Child Sex Changes Will Be -Daily Caller

Here is a thorough summary by Amy Howe at SCOTUS Blog, which comes to the same conclusion I did – based on the questioning by the Conservative members of the Supreme Court, they will uphold Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender teenagers.