Ohio judge temporarily blocks law banning sex-reassignment surgeries, hormone therapies for minors

An Ohio judge temporarily blocked an impending law on Tuesday that would ban gender reassignment surgery and certain hormone therapy for minors. 

The decision came weeks after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged the Saving Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, or House Bill 68, on behalf of two transgender girls and their families, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

The measure prevents doctors from prescribing hormones, puberty blockers or gender reassignment surgery to patients under 18. It also bans transgender players from joining women's sports teams in high school and college. 

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, in a statement following the decision, said, "This is just the first page of the book" and said he was "confident" the law would ultimately be upheld.

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"We will fight vigorously to defend this properly enacted statute, which protects our children from irrevocable adult decisions," he said.

Harper Seldin, staff attorney for the ACLU, praised the ruling, calling it "a victory for transgender Ohioans and their families."

"Ohio's ban is an openly discriminatory breach of the rights of transgender youth and their parents alike and presents a real danger to the same young people it claims to protect," Selding said. 

In Tuesday's decision, Franklin County Judge Michael Holbrook indicated that the law could be tossed out because of a single-subject violation, the Dispatch reported.

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"It is not lost upon this Court that the General Assembly was unable to pass the (Saving Ohio Adolescents from Experimentation) portion of the Act separately, and it was only upon logrolling in the Saving Women’s Sports provisions that it was able to pass," Holbrook wrote.

House Bill 68 was set to go into effect on April 24 after a GOP-led state legislature overrode Gov. Mike DeWine's veto on the law. 

DeWine's opposition sparked outrage from conservatives, who blasted him as a "coward" for his decision.

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"Were I to sign Substitute House Bill 68 or were Substitute House Bill 68 to become law, Ohio would be saying that the State, that the government, knows what is best medically for a child rather than the two people who love that child the most, the parents," DeWine said in his veto message.

He cited the "profound" consequences the bill could have on children struggling with gender dysphoria and said his decision boiled down to input from parents who believed their children's lives depended on the treatment they received.

"Ultimately, I believe this is about protecting human life. Many parents have told me that their child would not have survived, would be dead today if they had not received the treatment they received from one of Ohio's children's hospitals. I've also been told by those who are now grown adults that but for this care, they would have taken their life when they were teenagers," he said.

Among DeWine's criticizers was Chloe Cole, a detransitioner who is now one of the most outspoken activists against the practice. 

Cole, who formerly took steps to complete a female-to-male transition and has since been among the most outspoken critics against gender reassignment health care for minors, claimed DeWine's veto came just days after she shared her story with him during a Zoom call.

"When I was describing every step of the treatment, and especially when I brought up how young I was during every step, having been 13 when my puberty was suppressed, when I was drawn to androgens, and that I was 15 when my breasts were surgically removed, he was visibly disturbed," she previously told Fox News Digital.

"Parents don't have a right to abuse their children. This is no different from any form of abuse," Cole said in an interview on "Fox & Friends Weekend."

The state is expected to appeal.

DeWine's office did not return a request for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley contributed to this report.