NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) – A Kansas judge has temporarily blocked a law banning gender-transition treatments for minors in the state.
State District Judge Carl Folsom III granted an injunction requested by the parents of two teenagers who want to continue gender-transition treatment with medicines. Folsom’s decision halts the enforcement of a recently approved state law that banned such treatments.
In a ruling Friday, the judge sided with the teens’ parents who sued to halt the law, saying they had the right to make decisions regarding the health of their children, according to court documents and a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the plaintiffs.
“This is an enormous relief to our clients and families across the state of Kansas,” ACLU attorney Harper Seldin said in a statement.
Kansas Attorney General Kris W. Kobach plans to appeal the decision, according to local media reports. If Folsom’s injunction is upheld, it would last for the duration of the lawsuit.
Kobach, a Republican, called the ruling “a stark example of judicial activism,” according to The New York Times.
The Kansas law, which the Republican-controlled state legislature passed in January over Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s veto, prohibits gender-affirming medical treatments such as hormone therapies and pubertal suppressants for transgender youth diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court last year ruled that states can ban gender-affirming care for minors, the lawsuit that prompted Friday’s injunction argues that the Kansas law violates the state constitution.
Folsom, a Kelly appointee, sees a “substantial likelihood” that the lawsuit will succeed.
“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,” Folsom wrote.
(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Sergio Non and Cynthia Osterman)
