Supreme Court Allows Criminalizing Trans Kids’ Healthcare in Idaho
The April 15 ruling denies injunctive relief
Kids are diverse and each one is unique. Some kids are trans. Yet giving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or gender-affirming surgeries to a child in Idaho is a felony, after the Supreme Court’s decision today.
What Is the Vulnerable Child Protection Act?
Last year, Idaho passed the Vulnerable Child Protection Act to prevent healthcare providers—on pain of up to 10 years in prison—from giving people under 18 puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries that are “inconsistent with the child’s biological sex.” The healthcare ban was scheduled to take effect January 1 of this year.
Before the law could take effect, the parents of two trans girls who sought puberty blockers and estrogen sued Idaho’s attorney general, seeking to overturn the law. The plaintiffs asked the district court to block the law from taking effect while their case was ongoing. (This is known as a preliminary injunction). In late December, the court granted this request, temporarily blocking the entirety of the law: not only the provisions against puberty blockers and hormones, but also the provisions against surgeries. It was notable that the court blocked the parts about surgery…
