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The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has upheld Oklahoma Senate Bill 613, which prohibits gender-affirming medical care for individuals under 18. The ruling, issued in Poe et al. v. Drummond et al., affirms a lower court’s decision that the law does not violate constitutional protections.
Legal Reasoning and Precedent
The court found no evidence of discriminatory intent behind the legislation and applied the “deeply rooted” historical analysis used in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It concluded that parental access to gender-affirming care for minors is not “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history or tradition.”
The decision also referenced US v. Skrmetti, which upheld a similar Tennessee law, stating that the Oklahoma and Tennessee statutes are “functionally indistinguishable.”
“While we respect that Plaintiffs disagree with the legislature’s assessment of such procedures’ risks, that alone does not invalidate a democratically enacted law on rational-basis grounds,” the court stated.
Background on SB 613
Passed in 2023, SB 613 bans medical interventions such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender-affirming surgeries for minors. The law was challenged by transgender youth, their parents, and a physician, who argued it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.
The court’s ruling reflects a broader legal and ethical stance that minors lack the maturity and capacity to make irreversible medical decisions of this magnitude. The legislation is grounded in concerns that such treatments may carry long-term consequences and that affirming otherwise risks enabling decisions that individuals may later regret.
