Ban on Youth Sex-Change Surgeries Survives Court Challenge

An Oklahoma state law that makes it illegal to provide children with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or sex-change surgeries as a treatment for gender dysphoria has survived the first round of an ongoing court challenge.

U.S. District Judge John F. Heil, III, has denied plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction that would prevent enforcement of the law.

“Where, as here, there is robust scientific and political debate concerning a significant public-policy question, a court should be loath to step in to end the debate and thereby suggest it is all-knowing,” Heil wrote in his opinion and order. “The record in this case amply demonstrates that there is no consensus in the medical field about the extent of the risks or the benefits of the Treatment Protocols.”

Gov. Kevin Stitt welcomed the ruling.

Read more on OCPA.