Yesterday, a Louisiana district court denied the state’s motion to dismiss Soe, et al. v. Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, et al., allowing the constitutional challenge to Louisiana’s gender-affirming care ban to proceed to trial. The lawsuit challenges Act 466, a Louisiana law that bans medically necessary gender-affirming care for transgender minors and punishes health care providers for providing such care.
Five transgender Louisiana youth and their families are challenging the constitutionality of the ban. Lambda Legal, the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School and law firm Most & Associates urged the 19th Judicial District Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge to allow the case to proceed. Plaintiffs argued that Act 466 violates the Louisiana Constitution by stripping parents of their right to direct their children’s health care, interfering with minors’ fundamental right to obtain medical treatment, and discriminating based on sex and transgender status.
“Yesterday’s ruling is a critical step forward for these families and their right to have their day in court,” said Nicholas Hite, Senior Attorney and McDonald/Wright Distinguished Counsel at Lambda Legal. “These brave families are fighting for their children’s health, dignity, and constitutional rights. Louisiana’s ban on gender-affirming care is discriminatory, dangerous, and unconstitutional. The court’s decision today ensures that we can continue presenting the evidence that will prove this harmful law violates the Louisiana Constitution and must be struck down.”
“Louisiana’s ban denies our clients access to the gender-affirming health care prescribed by their doctors, despite overwhelming medical evidence of its life-saving necessity. For as long as the ban has been in effect, these children and their families have endured unnecessary harm,” said Zeinab Bakhiet, Clinical Fellow, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School. “Bans like this put vulnerable children and families across Louisiana and the country at risk, improperly forcing the government between patients and their doctors. Yesterday’s decision allows this challenge to proceed to trial, where we will present the evidence supporting our clients’ medically necessary care.”
The lawsuit was filed in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans, a state court in Louisiana, which has jurisdiction over claims filed under the Louisiana Constitution.
Read more about the case here: https://lambdalegal.org/case/soe-v-louisiana-state-board-of-medical-examiners/