Yost argues to keep Ohio minor gender-affirming care ban

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(The Center Square) – State Attorney General Dave Yost told the Ohio Supreme Court parents don’t have the right to approve sex-change treatments for their children based on opinions of “so-called” experts.

In a brief to the Ohio Supreme Court, Yost called a 10th District Court of Appeals ruling in March that stopped part of the state’s ban on gender-affirming care harmful to children.

“We look forward to showing once again that the Legislature acted properly in enacting this constitutional law, which protects our children from irreversible medical decisions,” Yost said in a statement.

A Franklin County court blocked the provision of House Bill 68 that banned puberty blockers and other prescription drugs for minors. It left in place a ban on gender-affirming surgeries for minors and a ban on boys playing girls sports. 

The lawsuit, filed a year ago by two sets of parents with help from the ACLU, did not challenge HB68’s provisions that banned gender-affirming surgery for minors and males playing female sports.

The ruling said the state does not ban the same drugs when used for other reasons, which makes the ban inequitable. It also said the ban interferes with parents' rights to make health care decisions for their children.

Yost challenges the credibility of what he termed “so-called” experts in his brief to the Supreme Court, saying the Appeals Court was wrong to say parents have a constitutional right to approve treatments for their children based on those experts.

He also asserts Ohioans through the Legislature should make the decisions on sex-change procedures, being limited to adults.

The 10th District “did not decide that every family truly decides for itself, or that the people, through their representatives, decide. Instead, the lower court said the scope of our rights is decided by unelected advocacy groups that the court deemed ‘experts,'" the brief says.