A Kansas state court has issued a temporary injunction preventing enforcement of legislation that would have prohibited gender-transition medical care for minors throughout the state.
State District Judge Carl Folsom III approved the injunction following a request from parents of two teenagers seeking to maintain their children’s gender-transition medical care. The court order suspends implementation of the recently enacted state legislation that would have banned these treatments.
In Friday’s court decision, the judge agreed with the parents who filed the lawsuit to stop the law’s implementation, determining they possessed the authority to make healthcare choices for their children, based on legal documents and a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union representing the families.
“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.
