Montana Court Blocks Transgender Healthcare Ban
Transgender minors in Montana will continue to be able to seek gender-affirming healthcare after a District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement of Senate Bill 99.
Missoula County District Court Judge Jason Marks on Wednesday morning issued an order temporarily blocking a new state law that would ban transgender minors from seeking specific medical procedures in order to treat their gender dysphoria. Such treatments include hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender-affirming surgical procedures. In a 48-page document granting the preliminary injunction, Marks wrote that Senate Bill 99 infringes on transgender minors’ fundamental rights to privacy and violates Montana’s stringent equal protection guarantees.
Missoula County District Court Judge Jason Marks:
“The Court finds that SB 99 likely violates Montana’s Equal Protection Clause because it classifies based on transgender status—making it a sex-based classification—and because it infringes on fundamental rights, subjecting it to strict scrutiny. The Court finds that SB 99 likely does not survive strict scrutiny because it does not serve its purported compelling governmental interest of protecting minor Montanans from pressure to receive harmful medical treatments. Alternatively, the Court finds that SB 99 is unlikely to survive any level of constitutional review. The Court also finds that SB 99 likely violates Plaintiffs’ right to privacy under Montana’s Constitution because the Court does not find that the treatments proscribed by SB 99 constituted ‘medically-acknowledged, bonafide health risk[s].’”
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Attorneys for the plaintiffs celebrated the decision, yet noted that this will not be the end of the road for Senate Bill 99.
“We are gratified the judge understood the danger of denying transgender Montana youth access to gender-affirming care as the challenge to this cruel and discriminatory law proceeds,” Lambda Legal Staff Attorney Kell Olson said in a Wednesday press release. “Transgender youth in Montana will continue to thrive, and removing this looming threat to their well-being is an important step in allowing them to do so.”
“We are so thankful for this opportunity to protect trans youth, their families, and their medical providers from this baseless and dangerous law,” Malita Picasso, the ACLU staff attorney who presented the plaintiffs’ case at the Sept. 17 court hearing, said. “While this fight is not over, every day that transgender Montanans are able to access this care is a critical and life-saving victory. We will never stop opposing this ban and all others like it until every transgender person has the care and support they need to thrive.”