Oklahoma Attorney General Signs Non-Enforcement Agreement on Health Care Ban for Trans Youth
OKLAHOMA CITY - The ACLU of Oklahoma, the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, and the law firm Jenner & Block LLP announced today the filing of a binding agreement with the Oklahoma Attorney General's office not to enforce SB 613, a law Governor Kevin Stitt recently signed, pending resolution of plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction in their challenge to SB 613.
The ACLU of Oklahoma, ACLU, Lambda Legal, and Jenner & Block LLP issued the following joint statement:
“We welcome this opportunity to preserve the rights of transgender adolescents and their families to access medically necessary health care while our challenge proceeds. SB 613 is a cruel intrusion by the state into the rights of families and their children’s doctors with grave costs for transgender adolescents across the state, and we remain confident the court will see through this unconstitutional attack on their rights and lives. We expect all state officials to abide by this agreement while our motion is pending and stand ready to hold the State accountable and defend the rights of all trans Oklahomans, should any enforcement of SB 613 occur.”
SB 613 bans all forms of gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender adolescents and threatens providers who violate the law with a felony conviction and discipline from their professional licensing boards.
A group of families with transgender adolescents and medical providers who support this medically necessary healthcare filed a lawsuit challenging SB 613 because it unjustly and unfairly targets them and the critical health care they need in violation of their rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
With today’s non-enforcement agreement, transgender adolescents will continue to have access to evidence-based care for gender dysphoria and medical providers will not need to live in fear of providing necessary health care to their patients.
Any person affected by these restrictions on gender-affirming care should reach out to intake@acluok.org.
